Poole Town vs Plymouth Parkway – Match Preview
In front of an expectant and noisy capacity crowd, The Dolphins secured the local bragging rights from The Magpies at The Wyatt Homes Stadium on Saturday. The 2-0 win was hard fought but very well deserved in a match that was dominated by the visitors. We move up to 3rd place (P23 W13 D5 L5 44 points) and keep the pressure on the top sides. We are now 5th in the form table P6 W4 D1 L1 and have moved quickly to put the disappointment of the Sholing result behind us.
Next up we welcome Plymouth Parkway to Tatnam on Saturday ko 3pm. The Yellows are sitting just above the relegation zone in 18th place (P21 W5 D6 L10 21 points) and very much in need of points. Their lack of goals seems to be costing them dearly as only Hanwell Town 23 and Tiverton Town on 21 have scored fewer than their 25. They have dropped to 16th in the form table taking just 5 points from their last six matches.
They come into the match on the back of a disappointing defeat in the all Devon clash with bottom club Tiverton Town. After a goalless first half The Yellows went in front on 65 minutes and seemed to be on course for all three points. However, a penalty conceded on 82 minutes and converted by Tor Swan brought the visitors back into the match. It was again Tor Swan who was there to strike home the winner on 92 minutes and break the hearts of the home supporters. In the match prior to that they went down 4-0 at Farnham after having Mikey Williams sent off in the 69th minute when the score was 2-0.
Plymouth have won just once on the road so far this season from their 11 fixtures, Andrew “Rocky” Neale bagged a brace to give them the win at struggling Weymouth on December 20th. We travelled to Bolitho Park on August Bank Holiday Monday and came away with all three points thanks to an 85th minute strike from the now retired Josh Staunton.
Plymouth were very much in the relegation dog fight last season until they found some form towards the end of February and March when they achieved 6 wins. Even though they finished the season with three defeats they finished a credible 13th on 50 points. We beat them 3-1 at home in September but lost vital points to them near the end of the season when we lost 3-1 at Bolitho Park.
The club is managed by Chris McPhee who in two spells played 116 times for Weymouth, scoring 13 times, before his exit in the 2015/2016 season. He replaced Lee Hobbs, who in his superb seven-year tenure took the Bolitho Park club up three divisions to Step 3.
Lee Peacock, the former Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City striker, is McPhee’s assistant.
The striker that we need to watch could well be Andrew Neale who began his football journey at Lee Moor before progressing through a number of clubs including Parkway, Tiverton Town, Bodmin, Truro City, and Taunton Town. After a second spell with Truro, he returned to Parkway, continuing to add experience and quality to the side.
Parkway were promoted to Step 3 after finishing the 2021/2022 Southern League South Division as champions. They started the 2022/2023 season rather slowly but as the season progressed, they managed to turn things around and in a remarkable resurgence they finished their first season at this level in 10th place. This was followed up by an 18th place finish in 2023/2024 and as was said previously 13th in 2024/2025
The forecast is for the temperatures to drop over the next few days so wrap up warm and show your support for the team.
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington.