Sholing 0-2 Plymouth Parkway

Scorers : Thomas Bath 85, 90+5

Date: Saturday 5th March 2022, 3pm – Southern League South Division 1

Venue:  Mackoy Stadium

Sholing: Ryan Gosney, Ryan Cluett, Marv McLean, Josh Batt, Dan Miller, Rob Nicholls (Owen Roundell 62), Stu Green, Byron Mason ©, Dan Mason, Sami Makhloufi, Brad Targett  Unused subs : Conor Whiteley, Jake Cope, Jack Mann & Luke Deacon

Yellow Card: Ryan Cluett, Sami Makhloufi
Red Card: Sami Makhloufi

Plymouth Parkway: Kyle Moore, Finley Craske, Ryan Lane, Ethan Mitchell, Callum Rose, Michael Landricombe ©, Michael Williams, William Palfrey, Adam Carter (Thomas Bath 68), Matthew Andrew (Callum Hall 68), Jack Crago (Gabriel Rogers 44).  Unused subs : Harrison Davis & Aaron Bentley

Yellow Card : Finley Craske, William Palfrey

Referee:  Iain Parsons  Assistants: Adam Hillier & Adrian Knight

Attendance: 175

Man of the Match : Marv McLean

Reduced to 10 men for the whole of the second half, Sholing battled hard to get something from the game, but succumbed to late goals.

Team News :  Boatmen were unchanged from last Saturday, but with Byron starting in midfield.  It was the first ever game between the two sides after our away fixture at Plymouth was postponed twice.

We maybe in March, but the weather was anything but spring-like, with a bitter northerly wind blowing down the length of the pitch.  It was an even start, with Parkway hitting a few hopeful shots well off target and Sholing forcing a corner that was cleared.   The visitors were retaining possession better than we were and created a few more chances, but their efforts at Gosney were comfortable for him to save.   A succession of corners by Plymouth were wasted by overhit deliveries as Sholing continued to struggle to make headway and keep hold of the ball.

Sami picked up a yellow card for his first foul as the referee seemed to give all the 50/50 challenges the visitors way under noisy pressure from the Parkway bench.  On 28 mins, Dan Mason collected the ball in the left side of the area and crossed towards the near post where the ball got caught up in Stu Green's feet and went behind.   The biggest cheer from the home crowd came on 35 mins when we were finally awarded a freekick.

Brad Targett beat a defender to cross low to Dan Mason, but his effort was blocked as the Boatmen failed to work the keeper in the first half.  That frustration was typified when Sami broke into space down the right channel, but delayed on the ball, was closed down and a rash trip on a Parkway player gave the Referee little option but to show him a second yellow.  HT 0-0

Sholing, down to 10 men, looked the better side after the restart and created some decent chances.  Good link-up play between Targett & Marv saw the left back cut into the box and his cross was inches away from Dan Mason on the edge of the 6 yard box.  A few minutes later, Marv threw long into the area where D-Dan held the ball up under pressure, spun and shot with his effort hitting the keeper, more than him making a save and luckily for him, the ball dropped down just past the post.   

No doubt about the quality of the save by Kyle Moore soon after, when again, Dan Mason held the ball up in the area, before laying it off to the arriving Stu Green to hit a first time angled shot that the keeper did very well to tip away at full stretch.

Sholing hadn't looked like a team one man down, but as the half progressed, Plymouth started to gain the upper hand again. Two substitutions on 68 minutes injected fresh legs into their attack and they started to create more chances.  Gosney was again equal to what came his way, either via shots or crosses as Parkway were finding it hard to break us down.

All the Boatmen were working extremely hard as demonstrated by a brilliant last ditch tackle in his own box by Brad Targett.  It looked like the game might end in a stalemate, but on 85 minutes, the visitors took the lead.  Ryan Gosney tried to claim the ball from a corner swung beyond his far post, appeared to be bumped into by a Plymouth player with the ball slipping from his grasp and hooked back into the middle of the goal where a header hit the bar, but dropped down to Thomas Bath to score from almost on the goalline into the roof of the net.  The linesman had his flag up for something, but the referee overruled him and the goal stood.

Byron Mason headed across goal and just beyond his arriving teammates as Boatmen threw everyone forward.  Gosney made an excellent one-on-one save, but could do nothing deep into added time when Rogers evaded a couple of tired challenges to square for Thomas Bath to knock past an exposed Gos.   FT 0-2

Next Game : Melksham Town v Sholing - Southern League - Saturday 12 March 3pm

Photos courtesy of EspieJaz (swipe to view pics)