October 1, 2022
FA Cup fever hits these diaries as the competition reaches the Third Qualifying round !
Today saw the meeting of Oxford City from National League South against Plymouth Parkway from the Southern League Premier South, one level below.
Plymouth Parkway were founded in 1988 and home is Bolitho Park, which has a capacity of 3,500 and is also currently home to Truro City, pending the building of the S4C ( Stadium For Cornwall ). Parkway’s home colours all yellow but today they wore black shorts.
Parkway were promoted out of South West Peninsula League after winning the title in 2017/18 and after the Covid curtailed seasons of 2019/20 and 2020/21 were promoted from the Western League. Unusually for a side in the west country, Parkway have shown ambitions to progress through the non-league pyramid despite the additional travel and expense to be incurred. Parkway stormed through their first season at a higher level, winning the Southern League Division One South by three points to earn promotion to Premier South.
The higher level of Southern League football has proven to be tougher so far, and after 8 games they sat second from bottom with a 1-2-5 record, with their single victory occurring in their most recent fixture, a 3-1 home triumph over Salisbury City. They started the season with a 2-2 home draw against highly fancied Chesham United, after which 5 consecutive losses were incurred, before claiming a 4-4 draw at Hartley Whitney.
Parkway’s average home attendance after 4 league games was 547, the 10th best in the entire Southern League.
The most notable name in the Parkway squad is diminutive striker Ben Seymour, who made 50 appearances for Exeter City before being released in the summer, so obtaining his signature was a bit of a coup for Parkway. A few of the squad have previously played for Truro City.
This cup-tie represented Parkway’s third trip to Oxfordshire in the competition this season. In the first Qualifying Round the train-spotter’s dream tie matched Didcot vs Plymouth Parkway, although to be precise, Plymouth Parkway are not a railway station with extensive parking capacity !
Against a side a league lower, Parkway were held to a 1-1 draw at Didcot after conceding an equalizer in the 92nd minute. In the replay, Parkway appeared to be cruising to a comfortable victory with a 2-0 lead with around 15 minutes to play, but Didcot fought back to 2-2, only for Parkway to score the winner in added on time.
Their next opponents were North Leigh, like Plymouth also newly promoted to the Southern League Premier South, away again in Oxfordshire. After trailing 0-2 at half-time, three second half goals saw an amazing turnaround, only to be rewarded with yet another 400 mile, six hour plus round trip to Oxfordshire.
Oxford City have a decent recent FA Cup record, reaching the First Round proper in four consecutive seasons. In 2017/18 they reached the Second round after a historic 1-0 away at Colchester before succumbing to an injury time winner at Notts County, which was shown live on BT Sport. The following year they came close to eliminating Tranmere Rovers but after an exciting 3-3 away draw, a 0-2 home loss in the replay, again on TV, saw them eliminated.
In 2019/20 they lost at home to Conference side Solihull Moors in the First Round but in the Covid restricted 2020/21 competition, Oxford City proved to be too strong for Northampton in another TV match, winning 2-1 after falling behind in the first half. In the second round, a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes at Shrewsbury would normally have meant a replay, but in the special rules that year due to Covid, extra time was played, with Shrewsbury eventually going through 1-0.
Oxford City do have a place in the FA Cup record books though, with their First Round tie in 1971/72 against Alvechurch being the longest ever, with six matches and over 11 hours of play before being knocked out.
Oxford City reached the second round of this year’s competition with a 2-1 victory at Salisbury City, so on a form line through Salisbury, a close match could be in the offing.
These diaries covered Oxford City’s opening game of the season, when they slumped to a 1-3 home defeat to Eastbourne Borough. They bounced back to win their next 4 matches, before crashing 0-5 at Welling. A shocking penalty decision in added on time then meant a 0-1 loss at Chippenham, followed by another last minute 0-1 defeat at Chelmsford.
The two league games since have been drawn, throwing away a 3-0 half-time lead at home to Bath City, with the equalizer arising from an even worse penalty decision to the one against Chippenham, a handball at least three yards outside of the area. If it all evens out over the course of a season, then the Hoops are due to have some stonking decisions going in their favour over the next few months !
In their most recent game, Oxford City brought an end to Ebbsfleet’s record of 9 wins out of 9, by holding the runaway league leaders to a 1-1 draw.
Oxford City have recently strengthened their attacking options with the signing of Antiguan forward Josh Parker, who includes QPR, Oxford United, Gillingham, Charlton, Wycombe Wanderers, Red Star Belgrade and Slovenian side Domzale on his CV. Furthermore, Olly Sanderson, a look-a-like for a beardless Jimmy Hill, has joined on loan from Fulham and has scored in each of the three matches he has played so far.
Bet365 made Oxford City 1/3 favourites, with Parkway 5/1 outsiders, and the draw at 4/1.
At the 3pm kick-off time the temperature was around 18 degrees, and the weather was dry with sunny intervals. The trees lining the far side of the ground were swaying in the wind, but it was mostly still at pitch level.
Plymouth started brightly and won the first corner of the match in the fourth minute, and forced another after Callum Rose’s back post header took a slight deflection as it was heading several yards wide.
The visitors from Devon had a glorious chance in the 7th minutes, as Seymour’s incisive pass put Garside clean through on goal, only to thwarted as City keeper Dudzinski spread himself to make the block. The home side quickly responded with Lolos latching onto a chip over a flat defensive line, but his left footed effort from a fairly tight angle went into the side-netting, causing the net to become detached from the stanchion. A four minute delay arose as the ground-staff made hasty repairs.
Parkway continued to impress with the energetic pony-tailed Callum Hall covering a lot of ground, although not always with any end product, and they appealed in vain for a penalty after Seymour crashed to the ground after tangling with a City defender.
City’s best move of the game to date came in the 14th minute as Lolos and Williams-Bushell combined but the ball across the six-yard line evaded attackers and defenders alike. The ball was immediately at the other end of the pitch, where the lively Seymour cut inside from the right-hand channel but his left-footed shot was straight at the keeper’s mid-rift.
The home side were slowly asserting their authority though, as Lolos showed some good skill and played a give and go with Williams-Bushell to get into a dangerous position. His return pass to Williams-Bushell saw the ensuing shot blocked.
City should have opened the scoring in the 24th minute. Lolos’ cross field pass beat Lane’s outstretched foot and put Williams-Bushell in the clear. However, after seeing the whites of the keeper’s eyes he horribly screwed his shot from 10 yards wide of the far post.
If that miss was bad, the next chance three minutes was denied by a fabulous save. Carroll’s ball over the top released Ashby close to the by-line and his low cross was met by Sanderson inside the 6 yard area, but keeper Kyle Moore somehow managed to make the block. When the ball was recycled and crossed back into the area, it looked like Sanderson’s shirt was pulled, but the referee allowed play to continue.
A similar move a minute later, again saw a City player, this time Sanderson, get to the by-line but his pass was put wide of the far post by ex-Oxford United midfielder Alfie Potter from inside the 6 yard box.
City were getting plenty of joy on the right-hand side, and in the 33rd minute Potter put Williams-Bushell in space but this time Lolos mis-kicked 6 yards out, and the ball went off centre-back Booth for a corner. A minute later striker Josh Parker fired just over the bar from the edge of the area.
Parkway managed to get some breathing space as the game moved towards half-time, but in the time added on to repair the goal-net the match burst into line again. First, Parker was found inside the penalty area but was unable to quickly get the ball out from under his feet, and was eventually crowded out.
Hall and Palfrey then combined for Parkway to give Lane the chance to deliver a dangerous ball across the face of the goal from the left but no-one was on hand to finish. City’s Lewis Coyle then saw a shot beaten away by keeper Moore, and as the visitors counter-attacked, Seymour and Lewington combined to send Hall racing down the right. With Lane advancing into an unmarked position in the City area, Hall’s attempted pass was poor and intercepted by the one City defender.
With the last play of the half, Lolos was tackled but as the ball rolled off for a throw-in he appeared to step on the prone Lane. Most of the Plymouth players responded by surrounding the referee demanding sanctions, and were disappointed by only a yellow card being shown. An Oxford City supporter not to far away from me responded by shouting “It wasn’t even a booking ref !”
Oxford City should have been ahead at the interval but had squandered several good chances. Parkway had looked dangerous on the counter.
The visitors created the first piece of danger in the second half, as Williams played in Garside, but he dwelt too long on the ball, ignoring the option to pass to the unmarked Seymour, and was eventually dispossessed.
City’s first chance of the second period arrived in the 52nd minutes when Lolos robbed Booth near the half-way line after which McEachran found Potter in space on the right. A chip over the keeper was cleared by a covering defender.
Parkway continued to pose an occasional threat, and a long-ball out of defence saw City centre-back Carroll stumble giving Seymour the chance to head for goal. However, a good tackle from the covering Harrison ended the danger.
The home side continued to hold the upper hand, Fleet shot over from distance, and then keeper Moore made another point-blank save to keeper out a header from Lolos.
Gradually though it appeared as if City were starting to run out of ideas, and a Tuesday night replay in Plymouth looked increasingly likely. Lolos and Coyle both blazed poor long range efforts many feet over the bar, and in between on a Parkway raid, Garside’s cross was too high for Lewington, who threw himself to the floor and appealed for a penalty. It looked a pretty poor dive from where I was watching, and the referee was unimpressed.
Lewington then had a shot which went off for throw-in, although to be fair to the Parkway man, it did take a slight deflection and the throw was awarded to Plymouth ! It was just about his last contribution to the match, being substituted shortly after.
The game continued to fizzle out and Parkway collected a couple of cards as they attempted to hold on to what they had.
Then, almost out of the blue, the visitors scored. Crago made a good run and cut inside from the left to unleash a tremendous effort from outside of the area that flew in to top corner. Dudzinski had no chance, but with just under 10 minutes left to play, Parkway now had the lead.
City tried to respond. Harrison’s header was blocked a couple yards from the line, but Ashby’s free-kick from just outside of the area went tamely into the wall. As the clock ticked into the red zone, Williams-Bushell was fouled on the right, and from the free-kick, Carroll rose the highest to win a header 12 yards out. The ball may have taken a deflection, but it looped wide of the keeper into the top corner to City the equalizer they didn’t look likely to score.
There was still time for Parker to get into a good position, but his cross was too high and the referee ended the contest soon thereafter.
After looking like possibly winning comfortably, Oxford City will be relieved to get a second chance in Tuesday night’s replay. Parkway will no doubt feel gutted at having come close to a giant-killing and will have to try again at the own ground.
Oxford City : Dudzinski – Williams-Bushell, Harrison, Carroll, Coyle ( Rowan ) – Ashby, Potter ( Fischer ), Fleet – Lolos, Sanderson ( McEachran ), Parker
Plymouth Parkway : Moore – Shanley, Booth, Rose, Williams, Lane – Garside, Hall, Lewington ( Crago ), Palfrey - Seymour
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPScETTfECM
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