Gallant Parkway fall short in their comeback at Gloucester

A SPIRITED second half was not enough for Plymouth Parkway, who were left to rue a poor first half on their visit to Gloucester City, going down to a 3-2 defeat to a team that were relegated from the National League North last season.

- GRAHAM LLOYD

GLOUCESTER CITY................3

PLYMOUTH PARKWAY..................2

Chris McPhee's team found themselves 2-0 down at the interval and 3-0 behind on the hour mark before a rousing last half hour saw them claw two goals back through Carlo Garside and Dylan Jones. Unfortunately, Parkway could not muster an equaliser despite a late onslaught on the home goal.

Parkway made two changes from Saturday's defeat to Basingstoke Town. Luke McCormick made his debut in goal replacing Plymouth Argyle loanee Zak Baker who had been recalled by his parent club after just one competitive game for Parkway. Matt Wright returned in place of Alex Cairo.

The game started at a steady pace but Gloucester gradually began to dominate possession and they took the lead on 28 minutes when a wellworked, training ground corner routine on the right saw the ball reach the unmarked Hanks around 18 yards out who shot low into the left hand corner through a crowded penalty box.

Gloucester continued to force the pace with Parkway unable to gain or retain any quality possession and they fell further behind on 39 minutes. Again they conceded possession too easily in midfield allowing Hanks to stride forward at pace along the right and strike a powerful, angled drive from around 25 yards past a despairing McCormick.