Seymour at the double in 3-3 Boxing Day Thriller
In front of a bumper Boxing Day attendance of 1,385, Parkway faced ground sharers 2nd placed Truro City. Parkway made 2 changes from their recent narrow FA Trophy defeat at Barnet with Harrison King and Toby Stephens starting in place of Aaron Goulty and Rio Garside respectively.
 Plymouth ParkwayTruro City FC 
3 - 3Full Time |
Full Match Report
The game got off to a frantic start with King picking up a booking in the 4th minute with Adam Porter’s subsequent free kick flashing narrowly wide. With Truro dominating the early stages,
Tyler Harvey glanced a header just wide from a Porter corner on 7 minutes. Parkway gradually worked their way into the game forcing a couple of corners which were well defended by Truro with Will Dean becoming the second player to see yellow on 13 minutes.
Truro continued to dictate the pace of the game and took the lead on 15 minutes. A cross from the right by Rocky Neal saw Harvey’s close range header touched on to the post by goalkeeper Adam Parkes with Porter touching the loose ball home from close range.
The game continued at a pace but lacked a great deal of quality with both sides conceding possession too often in midfield with few chances being created.
On 17 minutes Ben Adelsbury became the 3rd player to be booked after a crude challenge as Parkway began to apply pressure to the Truro backline. From Ryan Lane’s free kick wide on the right Callum Rose rose highest at the far post with his header looping on to the top of the net.
Parkway continued to look threatening and deservedly equalised on 25 minutes. The lively Ben Seymour was bundled over by Ed Palmer just inside the penalty area with the defender seeing yellow and Seymour coolly converting the spot kick just beyond James Hamon who had guessed the right way. Play continued to switch from end to end with defences generally remaining on top with neither side able to gain or retain midfield control.
On 34 minutes Harvey’s angled drive was bravely blocked as Truro enjoyed a short period of pressure with the Parkway defence continuing to hold firm. With play at times scrappy and lacking quality, on 38 minutes Callum Hall became the next player to be booked after a robust challenge in midfield.
On 40 minutes a long clearance deep into the Parkway half by Hamon saw Harvey go clear and a coming together with Rose on the edge of the 18 yard area saw Rose receive a yellow card with Truro appealing it should have been a red.
Harvey’s resultant free kick flew harmlessly over the bar. Adelsbury then saw his header from a corner well saved by Parkes on 44 minutes shortly before Truro regained the lead in the 1st of the 4 added minutes.
A Truro break along the right saw Neal cross into the 6 yard area with the ball being deflected by a Parkway defender to the back post where the unmarked Connor Riley-Lowe slotted home from close range.
A fairly even half with both sides fully committed but lacking composure and quality at times with numerous petty fouls and 6 yellow cards breaking up play with neither side able to gain any consistent momentum going forward. Defences generally remained on top with neither goalkeeper being unduly tested.
Play continued in similar attritional fashion from the start of the 2nd half with Truro creating the first chance on 51 minutes.
Parkway conceded possession in midfield allowing Truro to break along the left with Dean’s cross finding Harvey whose low shot was deflected for a corner.
Parkway continued to compete well and deservedly equalised for a second time on 54 minutes. Neat link up play between Hall, Mikey Williams and Jack Crago approaching the 18 yard area saw Crago’s neat first touch find Seymour who cleverly created a yard of space and fired home a low shot from round 15 yards just evading the diving Hamon.
Truro responded immediately and on 56 minutes a cross from the left found the unmarked Harvey who headed narrowly over when well placed. Parkway made their first change on 59 minutes with Garside replacing Hall with the experienced Dan Sullivan replacing the busy Porter for Truro shortly after.
Play began to open up more and on 67 minutes a Truro break saw Harvey link with Sullivan who went clear along the left only to shoot tamely straight at Parkes from around 20 yards when arguably he should have done better.
Dan Rooney then replaced Stephens for Parkway. On 70 minutes a neat exchange along the left between Garside and Lane saw a cross headed narrowly wide by Crago. Both sides continued to probe openings with defences coming under pressure but remaining solid.
On 74 minutes Ryan Brett replaced Ollie Knowles for Truro with Parkway enjoying a brief period of possession with Seymour lobbing an effort just wide on 76 minutes. On 78 minutes Parkes did well to save low down at his near post from Riley-Lowe’s angled drive with Crago then doing well to block Palmer’s shot from the resultant corner.
The hard working Seymour was then replaced by Ollie Hulbert on 85 minutes as Parkway continued to look for a winner with Rose seeing a close range shot saved after Truro had failed to clear a corner.
Somewhat fortuitously Parkway then took the lead for the first time on 88 minutes. Crago went clear along the right after being released by King, cut inside and fired in an angled shot which took a massive deflection and looped over Hamon and the retreating Truro defenders into the far bottom corner.
Striker Matt Wright then replaced defender Kyle Egan as Truro threw players forward looking for an equaliser which duly came somewhat controversially in the 2nd of the 5 added minutes.
Truro were awarded a free kick centrally some 25 yards out from which Dean fired high into the top corner beating Parkes with the ball bouncing down and away with play briefly continuing with appeal and counter appeal going on and after consulting with his assistant, the referee awarded the goal to bring the game to a dramatic conclusion but not before Hulbert received the game’s final yellow card in Parkway’s final attack.
A competitive, at times feisty, local derby not lacking endeavour or commitment but at times lacking quality and composure from both sides at crucial times in vital areas with the draw probably a fair outcome.
Other results on the day mean Parkway drop 2 places to 21st but with only 3 points separating 15th to 21st places. Parkway however have between 3 and 7 games in hand over all of those teams and will need to capitalise on those if they are to start climbing the table.
Parkway now have a week to regroup and recover before visiting league leaders Weston Super Mare next Monday.
Match Info
Parkway:
1 Parkes, 2 King, 3 Lane ©, 4 Stephens (Rooney 68), 5 Rose, 6 Booth, 7 Williams, 8 Palfrey, 9 Seymour (Hulbert 85), 10 Hall Garside 59), 11 Crago
Substitutes:
12 Garside, 14 Rooney, 15 Down (unused), 16 Hulbert, 17 Goulty 9 (unused)
Truro:
1 Hamon, 18 Egan (Wright 88), 3 Riley-Lowe ©, 4 Palmer, 5 Adelsbury, 12 White, 8 Dean, 7 Porter (Sullivan 63), 14 Knowles (Brett 74), 9 Harvey, 15 Neal.
Substitutes:
6 Haste (unused), 11 Brett, 16 Oppong (unused), 17 Wright, 10 Sullivan
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