Parkway Humbled at Home
Parkway v Chichester City | Match ReportFollowing trips on the road to Chertsey Town and Dorchester Town in the past week, Plymouth Parkway returned to Bolitho Park hosting fellow Step 3 Chichester City in the FA Trophy R1. The visitors currently sit in 11th place in the Isthmian Premier having been promoted last season from Isthmian SE despite only finishing 5th and a massive 26 points behind the Champions Cray Valley PM. They went on to win the play-offs and have acquitted themselves well at the higher level.
Parkway featured three changes from Tuesday with Mikey Williams returning from injury in place of cup-tied Jack Endacott. Joe Wragg came in for the injured Carlo Garside who is likely to be out for 2-3 weeks with the ankle injury picked up at Dorchester. Kieran Edworthy made his first start with Frankie Monk dropping to the bench. Manager Chris McPhee was serving a touchline ban and was forced to watch from the scaffold TV tower.
 Plymouth ParkwayChichester City 
0 - 4Full Time |
Full Match Report
Images: Lucy Arscott
The teams entered the field on a glorious day but in front of a sparse crowd due to Plymouth Argyle also playing at home. The game began very quietly with both defences being in complete control in the opening exchanges. The first attack of any note did not materialise until the 9th minute when Rio Garside played in Callum Hall who forced the visiting keeper into a comfortable save before realising the offside flag had been raised.
Chichester made their first attack one minute later when Ethan Prichard made a good run penetrating the home defence before shooting from 20 yards, but the effort was comfortably dealt with by Harry Lee.
Parkway forced their first corner on 18 minutes when a long diagonal ball from Taylor Scarff, his trademark, was intercepted and a further corner followed when the cross was headed over the bar, but this was well defended.
Good interplay between Scarff, Joe Wragg and Tom Dean led to a last-ditch challenge and another corner on 20 minutes which came to nothing. Parkway where beginning to get on top after a very even opening 20 minutes. Thus far though, there had been no clear chances for either side.
The first real opportunity fell to Parkway on 25 minutes when Wragg slipped the ball through to Mitch Beardmore and his low curling effort from 20-yards went just past the left-hand post. On 28 minutes, Callum Hall played the ball out wide to Dylan Jones on the left wing who then crossed to Rio Garside but his tame shot from the edge of the box was easily saved by Kieran Magee.
An unfortunate injury on 30 minutes saw Kieran Edworthy limp off and was replaced by Frankie Monk for the home side. On 33 minutes Parkway came very close to opening the scoring when good link play between Beardmore, Dean, Jones and Hall saw the latter stab the ball just wide with the aid of a deflection from the keeper.
The keeper had to be alert on 35 minutes also when he rushed out to cut off a dangerous run from Dylan Jones. Almost immediately Scarff, Beardmore and Hall linked well to set up Wragg but his shot from 10 yards was well saved by Magee.
On 41 minutes, Chichester threatened for the first time when Ryan Davidson on the right played in tall centre-forward Jimmy Wild whose fine curling shot from 18 yards had Lee launching himself through the air to keep the scores level. Chichester did take the lead slightly against the run of play two minutes later though when a partially cleared ball fell kindly to Emmett Dunn who scored low down from 12 yards. A bit of a scuffle ensued with several players involved and Shane White, the home Captain, and Jimmy Wild received yellows.
A first half where chances were few and far between, but Parkway would feel disappointed that they were not at least level.
A great ball from Beardmore appeared to have played in Jones for a one on one in the opening minute of the second period, but the flag was raised for a very tight decision. A quiet spell then followed before on 54 minutes a shot from Hall was charged down. A Mikey Williams cross to Wragg on 57 minutes saw him shoot wide when under pressure from the defender.
On 59 minutes, a superb back-heel flick from Jones played in Callum Hall but again, a controversial flag was raised. It was really starting to feel that it was not going to be Parkways’ Day.
Indeed, on 61 minutes, a very good move involving Ryan Davidson, Jimmy Wild, Lloyd Rowlatt saw Issac Bello finish off the move from close in for a 2-0 lead to the visitors. Parkway immediately introduced Ryan Brett for Wragg.
On 65 minutes, both Rowlatt and Davidson had shots charged down. A good break down the other end by Dean provided a good cross for Beardmore who under pressure couldn’t quite get on the end of it. On 68 minutes a good move involving Wild, Bello and Prichard saw a stinging shot from 15 yards turned over the bar by Lee.
On 70 minutes, the game was up for Parkway when a Prichard cross was headed home unchallenged by Curtis Da Costa for 0-3. Parkway replaced the unusually ineffectual Jones with Gene Price. The visitors replaced Rob Hutchings with Mo Jammeh shortly after.
Monk received a yellow for retaliation on 77 minutes. The following minute saw Dean try a repeat of his goal last week when he directed a free kick toward the near post but was a little wide this time. Billie Clark then replaced Rowlatt for Chichester.
On 79 minutes, Mikey Williams fired a 30-yard effort well over. Williams again on 82 minutes produced a good run into the box slipping in Beardmore who appeared brought down but again no penalty awarded. Immediately after, Jimmy Wild was played through at the other end and easily curled the ball past Lee for 0-4 with the defence nowhere to be seen. Wild was then replaced by Oliver Munt.
Parkway had long since capitulated and further raids came from the visitors looking for one more goal to equal Parkways heaviest ever home defeat. Following good work by Davidson and Jammeh, Prichard shot into the side netting. Fortunately, the ref added no extra time on 90 minutes and Parkway were spared any more pain.
This result will have alarm bells sounding around the Parkway camp as Chichester were tidy but nothing special and there must be major doubts now as to whether the current squad can produce what is required to escape the relegation zone in the league. They currently stand six points from safety following Tiverton beating Poole Town.
McPhee will hope for a massive response on Tuesday when Parkway entertain mid-table Wimborne Town before hosting high-flying Merthyr Town next Saturday. It is believed that talisman Dylan Jones is unavailable on Tuesday which will not help matters.
Match Info
Line-Ups:
Plymouth Parkway:
1 Lee, 2 Dean, 5 Scarff, 6 White, 7 Williams, 8 Hall, 10 R. Garside. 11 Jones (70 Price), 12 Edworthy (30 Monk), 14 Beardmore, 18 Wragg (62 Brett)
Substitutes:
4 Brett, 9 Monk, 13 Sowden-Bird (Unused), 17 Wright (Unused), 20 Price.
Chichester City:
1 Magee, 2 Davidson, 3 Hutchings (74 Jammeh), 4 Moore, 5 Da Costa, 6 Pashley, 11 Prichard, 8 Dunn, 9 Wild (83 Munt), 10 Rowlatt (78 Clark), 7 Bello
Substitutes:
14 Jammeh, 15 Munt, 16 Clark
Attendance 251 (Est 16 away)
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