Parkway progress in the FA Trophy with victory over Dorchester Town
Parkways love affair with the FA Trophy continued with a 2-0 win over Dorchester Town. In a game of few chances, Parkway did enough and also claim a first clean sheet of the season writes Graham Lloyd…
 Plymouth ParkwayDorchester Town 
2 - 0Full Time |
Full Match Report
Parkway entertained fellow Southern Premier South side Dorchester Town in the 3rd round qualifying round of the FA Trophy with 4 changes being made from Tuesday nights FA cup exit to Oxford City. Reece Shanley, Michael Landricombe, Jack Crago and Exeter City loanee young Pedro Borges making his debut replaced Rio Garside, Callum Rose, Ben Seymour and Billy Palfrey all of whom were on the bench.
Dorchester arrived with a depleted looking squad appearing much changed from the earlier league meeting of the 2 sides with only 2 substitutes named.
Parkway started brightly with Crago seeing his shot blocked on 6 minutes and cleared to safety. A couple of minutes later Jared Lewington’s shot just cleared the bar after neat build up play between Callum Hall and Mikey Williams. Parkway continued to dominate proceedings with the visitors offering little attacking threat and seemingly content to absorb pressure and defend in numbers even at this early stage of the game.
A Hall shot from distance sailed well over on 11 minutes as Parkway continued in the ascendancy but with their final ball often lacking accuracy. On 19 minutes Tyler Ashmead made a strong run along the right with his cross being comfortably gathered by Harry Lee.
Parkway continued on the front foot looking to build through midfield and switch play from flank to flank with the visitors defending well with Keith Emmerson particularly dominant at the back.
Parkway’s pressing game continued and Lewington saw his header well saved by Lee on 24 minutes. Lee then did well to smother a Ryan Lane effort on 26 minutes as Parkway pushed forward from the back with defenders Williams and Austen Booth looking to break forward at every opportunity. Little was seen of Dorchester in the final third with the Parkway defence coping comfortably with what little came their way.
On 29 minutes a corner from the left reached the unmarked Landricombe at the far post with his header flying back across the face of the goal and being cleared behind for another corner. On 33 minutes a long ball from Landricombe found Hall racing clear along the left with his cross dropping to Crago whose shot from round 15 yards was easily saved by Lee.
Parkway continued to threaten creating plenty of half chances with the Dorchester defence holding firm and Lee frequently called into action to make routine saves. His opposite number Kyle Moore remained a relative spectator. On 35 minutes Keiron Douglas was cautioned for a foul on Crago with the resultant free kick from around 25 yards by Borges being hit low under the wall with Lee again saving comfortably.
Lewington and Crago then linked well with Lewington’s mishit shot from around 15 yards being saved easily by Lee. On 42 minutes Douglas had to be assisted from field with an injury with Jordi Foot coming on to replace him. 4 minutes time were indicated with Parkway remaining in complete control but still unable to find that elusive first goal.
A scrappy, uninspiring half lacking any great quality with Parkway dominating possession throughout all over the pitch with the visitors competing and defending well but offering little attacking threat.
Although Lee in the visitor’s goal was by far the busier of the 2 keepers, all of his saves were fairly routine with Parkway creating numerous chances but few of them clear cut and many from outside the 18 yard area.
Dorchester started the 2nd half showing a little more ambition going forward and on 48 minutes broke clear with Landricombe seeing yellow for a foul some 30 yards out. The resultant free kick was headed behind for a corner which was cleared and recycled by the visitors with Charlie Gunson pulling his shot just wide.
Parkway quickly regained control of midfield and on 53 minutes won a free kick on the left which was only half cleared to Lewington whose header flashed narrowly wide. Parkway continued to look to build from the back and on 59 minutes a terrific forward run from deep by Williams saw him skilfully skip a series of half-hearted tackles and reach the 6 yard area with his angled shot being blocked with Crago pouncing on the loose ball only for his effort to be cleared off the line.
Garside replaced the hard working Hall on the hour as Parkway continued to dominate but were still unable to penetrate the Dorchester back line. A rare Dorchester break on 63 minutes saw an Ollie Balmer shot deflected for a corner.
The deadlock was finally broken on 67 minutes. A Parkway corner saw Landricombe’s goalbound header deliberately handled on the line by Harvey Bertrand who was shown a straight red card with Garside stepping up to bury the spot kick. Dorchester immediately used their 2nd and final substitution with Connor Callow replacing Mike Lilley. Parkway continued to huff and puff, too often conceding possession in midfield as the visitors were now forced to commit more men forward and a break on the left on 74 minutes was halted for a foul by Ashmead who received a yellow card.
Borges who had showed glimpses of his undoubted ability was then replaced by Aaron Goulty. On 77 minutes a Crago shot from the edge of the 18 yard area was deflected into the arms of a grateful Lee as Parkway pushed for a 2nd goal to secure the game. On 83 minutes the persistent Crago then went clear along the left with his cross being blocked. Booth then advanced forward from the back taking a long cross field pass in his stride and fizzing an effort from around 30 yard just wide.
Approaching the now customary nervous 90’s for Parkway, Moore was forced to make arguably his first meaningful save of the game on 86 minutes diving low to clutch an angled drive by Gunson.
Crago then shot over from around 25 yards when with a little more composure he could have hit the target. Parkway finally got the crucial 2nd goal on 88 minutes. Good work along the left between Lane and Crago saw the latter set up Lewington whose crisp, low, angled drive from around 20 yards nestled into the bottom corner of the far post.
Parkway almost got a 3rd goal on 90 minutes. A neat exchange of passes wide on the right between Shanley and Ashmead saw the latter’s cross headed behind with Crago’s header from the resultant corner bouncing off the post and cleared. With 4 minutes stoppage time added, the game petered out with no further alarms as Parkway slowed the game down, retained possession and for once managed to see the game out.
A scruffy game lacking any real quality that will not live long in the memory other than to see Parkway into the 1st round proper of the competition and keeping a rare clean sheet in doing so. Parkway deserved the win with a workmanlike if uninspiring performance against willing but limited opponents who appeared surprisingly negative from the outset.
Arguably the worst Parkway have played all season with many previous games seeing them play much better but lose. The next round is due to be played on Saturday 29 October meaning the programmed league fixture at North Leigh will be rescheduled and mean a possible midweek trek to their 2nd home in Oxfordshire!
Attention now turns to an important 7 days ahead with visits to 2 teams in the lower reaches of the league along with Parkway. Tuesday sees a visit to bottom placed Yate Town who have 5 points, the same as Parkway, and a trip on Saturday to 16th placed Harrow Borough who have 8 points. Parkway have games in hand on both teams and will be hoping for an improved performance from todays as they look to start climbing the league.
Match Info
PLYMOUTH PARKWAY 2 (Garside pen 67, Lewington 88)
DORCHESTER TOWN 0
Parkway
1 Moore, 2 Ashmead, 3 Lane, 4 Shanley, 5 Landricombe ©, 6 Booth, 7 Williams, 8 Hall (Garside 60), 9 Lewington, 10 Borges (Goulty 75), 11 Crago
Substitutes:
12 Goulty, 14 Garside, 15 Rose (unused), 16 Seymour (unused), 17 Palfrey (unused), 18 Mead-Crebbin (gk) (unused)
Dorchester:
1 Lee, 2 Bertrand, 3 Sa, 4 Emmerson ©, 5 Slough, 6 Douglas (Foot 42), 7 Ngalo, 8 Gunson, 9 Balmer, 10 Stanley, 11 Lilley (Callow 68)
Substitutes:
12 Foot, 14 Callow
Attendance:
285
Corners
Parkway 4
Dorchester 5
Throw Ins
Parkway 21
Dorchester 26
Offside
Parkway 3
Dorchester 2
Free kicks
Parkway 10
Dorchester 15
Goal Kicks
Parkway 8
Dorchester 7
Shots
Parkway 13
Dorchester 4
Shots on Target
Parkway 4
Dorchester 2
Parkway Partners
