Recap

New season starts with an away day victory

FT: Hallen 1 (Thomas pen 78)

Plymouth Parkway 4 (Richards 38, 47, 48, Wright 53)

After their FA Cup exit to Saltash on Tuesday, Parkway travelled to Hallen for their first Western League fixture of the new season looking to bounce back hoping to get their league campaign off to a winning start. Personnel and positional changes were made with Mikey Williams in the starting line up along with Matt Wright and River Allen making their league debuts. Ryan Richards, James Ward and Jordan Bentley were all on the bench with Shane Krac unavailable.
Parkway made an impressive start moving the ball around at pace and quickly went on the front foot. On 4 minutes the first of many free kicks in dangerous areas was awarded with Allen seeing his 25 yard effort pushed behind by Sam Alexander in the home goal. With Parkway gaining control in midfield and looking to switch play at pace, on 6 minutes a strong run from the back by Rob Farkins saw him play a neat one two with Williams whose audacious dipping effort from 35 yards clipped the top of the cross bar. Parkway continued in a positive manner going forward with Allen, Steve Colwell and Billy Palfrey all seeing plenty of the ball as Hallen struggled to contain the midfield trio. Another free kick on 14 minutes saw Allen fire well over from around 25 yards. With Hallen looking to play long diagonals to the wide areas they created a break along the right on 16 minutes. A cross was played into the 18 yard area and only a superbly timed block by the impressive Harrison Davis on a goal bound shot with Kyle Moore stranded prevented the hosts taking the lead.
Play then switched to the other end with Callum Hall going one on one with the keeper with Alexander making a fine smothering stop. The loose ball was picked up by Wright who linked well with Allen with Hall seeing another shot blocked at close range. Parkway continued to dominate in midfield, linking play well and forcing Hallen to drop deeper.
They thought they had taken the lead on 21 minutes when another flowing move along the right saw a pinpoint cross from Davis headed on by Wright to Williams who hooked home from close range only be denied by a marginal offside decision. With Parkway continuing to dominate it seemed only a matter of time before they took the lead and they almost did so on 26 minutes. More pacey build up play saw Colwell in an advanced position prod a shot past the onrushing Alexander who clattered into him only to see the ball roll on to the post and be hacked away. Claims for a penalty were waved away however Colwell remained down and required lengthy treatment before being assisted from the pitch clearly unable to continue and being replaced by Richards. Hallen made a rare break forward on 33 minutes with a Sacha Tong cross being pushed on to the bar by Moore who collected the ball at the second attempt.
On 38 minutes the relentless Parkway pressure finally paid off. Determined play by Allen in midfield saw him pick out Wright wide on the right. Wright cleverly turned his marker and played a perfectly weighted pass to the overlapping Davis. Driving forward Davis delivered a pin point cross on the run to the far post where the unmarked Richards, making an immediate impact, timed his run perfectly to guide his header home from around 6 yards with virtually his first touch since coming on.
Parkway continued to threaten as the half came to end with a booking for Hallen’s Elliot Gibbons for a foul on Hall with Hall receiving the same fate for his retaliation. An impressive half for Parkway playing quick, sharp incisive football throughout but with only one goal to show for their efforts after hitting the wood work twice, having a goal ruled out for offside and a penalty claim turned down.
Hallen rarely threatened but worked hard to stem the tide in midfield but looked rather one dimensional in attack with the Parkway defence dominant and Moore rarely being called into action. The second half started in explosive fashion. On 47 minutes a free kick on the right was not cleared with ball eventually being laid back to Richards who finished clinically, drilling a low shot into the corner from around 15 yards. From the kick off Parkway immediately regained possession and a sharp move and interchange of passes along the left between Ryan Lane and Hall saw Lane deliver a deep cross to the far post where Richards smashed home an angled drive from around 15 yards to complete a memorable 10 minute hat-trick on his league debut.
The timing between the goals was 48 secs. On 50 minutes a Hallen break forced a defensive slip with Moore making a fine one handed save to maintain the 3 goal cushion. However the Parkway attacking ferocity continued and on 51 minutes another free kick saw Michael Landricombe head just over when well placed and on 53 minutes they increased their lead further.
With Hallen rocking, more good build up play through midfield saw an astute Williams pass release Wright whose low shot into the bottom corner gave him his first goal for the club on his league debut. On 55 minutes Williams was replaced by Bentley who slotted into right back with Davis moving into midfield. Hallen also made their first substitution.
A driving run along left by Lane on the hour saw his cross falling to Davis who shot narrowly over. With Parkway now totally dominant, on the hour the hard working Wright was replaced by Ward who slotted into the backline with Landricombe moving in to central midfield. On 62 minutes a surging run forward by the ever dangerous Davis ended with a mishit shot from Palfrey being comfortably saved. Hallen made their second substitution on 68 minutes as Parkway continued to press forward looking to increase their lead.
On 72 minutes another flowing move along the left between Lane and Hall set up the rampant Richards who spun sharply 20 yards out curling his effort narrowly wide. With victory now seemingly sealed, Parkway wisely looked to slow the game down, retain possession, conserve energy and manage the game to its conclusion. Hallen continued to harry and chase and on 78 minutes a rare foray forward saw them awarded a penalty after a clumsy challenge by Farkins. Thomas converted the spot kick with Moore diving the right way but just failing to get his hand to the ball.
Hallen made their final substitution on 82 minutes as Parkway continued to move the ball around patiently and with no further alarms saw the game out for a comfortable victory in a game in which they controlled from start to finish with a ruthless spell just after the break all but sealing it. A competent, hard working all round performance coupled with clinical finishing to start the league campaign which continues at Bolitho Park on Tuesday with a Devon derby against a strong Exmouth Town. The game is all ticket which is well on the way to being another sell out.
Next Saturday is FA Cup weekend and with Parkway no longer in the competition, an otherwise blank Saturday has been quickly filled by a trip to Chipping Sodbury which has been brought forward from the end of October as the busy start to the season continues.