Rivalry renewed as Parkway host Winchester at Bolitho

IT is well known that there is no love lost between Plymouth Parkway and Winchester City and the two sides meet again tonight with Lee Hobbs wanting the points to guarantee his side’s place in the Southern League Premier for next season.

- STUART JAMES

In three previous clashes, there has been plenty of controversy with late penalties leading to some pretty agitated behaviour while the return fixture at Hillier Way wad dominated by Hobbs’ pre-match comments which, in truth, were taken a little out of context by Winchester.

However, those ‘pin on the dressing room wall’ comments certainly inspired the Hampshire outfit as they won that game 1-0, so Parkway will be gunning for revenge in tonight’s league game.

“It’s a big game. A point guarantees us Southern League Premier status for next year,” Hobbs said. “I was looking at the bottom four and they can only get to 49 points and that’s if they win every game and we lose every game, so a point from our next eight fixtures guarantees us that, which we are likely to get.

“Winchester have their own agenda and had a good win on Saturday, so they will be coming to us full of confidence and probably knowing themselves a win or two will make them safe as well. There is a small bit of history between the two teams as well, so we want to get on the bike because last time out (up at Chesham) was disappointing and we were beaten by a far better team on the day, so tomorrow is all about getting back to winning ways.