St Austell enjoy sweet victory over old rivals

St Austell tasted the sweetest of victories after dumping their old rivals Plymouth Parkway out of the FA Vase at Poltair Park last Saturday with a ruthless display of second-half finishing – led by four-goal hero Liam Eddy.

After their 6-1 first-round win, manager Damon Mulready’s men will now travel to Western League First Division side Cheddar in the second round on November 3.

The Cornish team, who reached the FA Vase semifinals in 2015, trailed to Mike Smith’s close-range effort in the 27th minute.

Up until the 59th minute, the Western League side, promoted from the South West Peninsula League last season, were heading for the second round. But from the moment Mark Goldsworthy scored from the penalty spot, Mulready’s team took the tie by the scruff of the neck in emphatic fashion.

Still reeling from the referee’s decision to award the penalty, Parkway conceded a second spot-kick three minutes later when Liam Eddy was brought down by Kyle Moore, and again Goldsworthy made no mistake.

As Parkway worked hard to bring themselves back into the tie, they were dealt another sucker punch when Eddy scored a third for the hosts in the 65th minute.

The pacy striker then added more salt in the Parkway wounds with a fine individual goal seven minutes later, before completing his hat-trick in the 81st minute.

Just when Parkway boss Lee Hobbs did not think it could get any worse, their chances of reducing the arrears from the penalty spot were foiled when former Truro City striker Stewart Yetton’s kick was saved by Jason Chapman in the 83rd minute.

Parkway’s misery was compounded when Eddy scored again late in the game.

St Austell assistant manager Neil Slateford said: “It was a difficult first half, with both teams struggling in the wind, but Parkway went in 1-0 up and probably deserved it on the balance of play.

“In the second half we made a tactical change and it seemed to work. I thought in the second half we were superb. Some of the goals we scored were some of the best I’ve been involved in.”

A dismayed Hobbs said: “It was exactly the game we predicted, a lot of tension around the ground in what was a very healthy crowd.

“We were the better team in the first half going against the wind, when we took the lead and defended well, but what went on in the second half I never want to witness again.

“There was some poor decision making and naivety, which isn’t us.”