Hobbs hopes that weekend defeat will have blown the cobwebs away

PLYMOUTH Parkway boss Lee Hobbs felt there were understandable signs of rustiness in his side’s weekend defeat at Basingstoke Town, but backed his players to respond, if tonight’s Southern League Premier Division trip to Poole Town beats the elements.

- STUART JAMES

Parkway went down to a contentious 1-0 loss on the AstroTurf at Winklebury after Ryan Lane was adjudged to have fouled inside the box and Bradley Wilson struck home the resulting penalty.

Hobbs felt the result was harsh on his players and called the decision ‘criminal’ but they have a quick chance to respond along with the south coast tonight, if the match passes a morning pitch inspection.

“I was massively disappointed because I thought my players were excellent considering we hadn’t played a competitive fixture for four weeks,” Hobbs said reflecting on the weekend loss.

“We had some sort of mini pre-season and we are embarking on a new season now of 19 games and we went away from home and competed against a team that was bang in form and have won five of their last six. We had big moments in the game to go on and win it, but we have been undone by a decision that I can only describe as criminal.