Hayes & Yeading welcomed very much in-form Plymouth Parkway to the SKYex on a windy Tuesday evening and sadly for United it was the Devonians who took maximum points leaving United in the middle of a relegation battle. Manager Mark Molesley gave a debut to experienced central defender Will Salmon while both Ronan Silva and Steve Ngunga returned from injury y taking places on the United bench, on the negative side skipper Sanmi Odelusi missed out due to a knock. Things could not have started worse for United as the visitors took just three minutes to break the deadlock. A chipped pass from midfield dropped between two United defenders and with skipper Marvel Ekpiteta failing to get a touch it left Dylan Jones to tuck the ball past Jacob Adams into the empty net. Eleven minutes had passed when Cole Brown won the ball in a tackle and it fell to Tobias Braney just outside the box, his effort just missing the top corner of the Plymouth net. Soon after the visitors had the ball in the United final third once more with Alex Cairo sliding a pass to his right for an on-coming Shane White but his 20 yard effort flew wide of the target without really troubling Adams. Still the visitors pushed for another, a cross into the middle from the left saw Jones nip in front of Will Salmon but his flicked volley was comfortably dealt with by the diving Adams in the United goal. Things got worse for United in the 29th minute as Salmon and a Plymouth player battled for possession, in a tangle of legs Salmon appeared to be tripped going back into his own area however referee Murphy saw it differently and pointed to the spot thus awarding the visitors a somewhat dubious penalty kick. White took full advantage and smashed the ball straight down the middle to put the Devon side two ahead. United went closer than close to pulling one back on 34 minutes as Ekpiteta surged forwards from central defence right into the Parkway area before finding Ayo Faniyan, the United striker took the ball past Plymouth stopper Adam Parkes but it ran away towards the by-line, he did however chase it down and fired goalwards only for his effort to come back off the post to Ekpiteta who saw his shot deflected wide by Parkes outstretched boot. As the half drew towards its conclusion, Jones again found space on the right side, he moved inside and tried his luck from 20 yards but this time his effort curled away wide of the target and the half closed with United two goals adrift. Both sides made a double change at the break, for United Tobias Braney and Cole Brown were replaced by Michael Fernandes and Steve Ngunga respectively. Fernandes was quickly in the action and with just three minutes played after the re-start, his cross from the left was met with an acrobatic overhead kick from Faniyan but he could not generate much power and Parkes held easily. Just a few minutes later a poor defensive pass presented the ball to Matt Wright for the visitors, he played it aside to Rio Garside but his shot was held by Adams and just past the hour mark the same player was again denied, this time by a superbly timed Salmon block 12 yards from goal. On 69 minutes United were reduced to ten men when a forceful Lewis Kinsella tackle on Tom Purrington right in front of the opposition bench had them leaping up demanding a red card that referee Murphy duly produced to the on-loan Maidenhead defender. On 79 minutes Wright collected the ball to the right corner of the United area and fizzed a shot across goal and wide of the far post while the last real chance of the game came three minutes from the end when Salmon’s low centre from the right was deflected to Silva, his volley being pushed wide by Parkes and the visitors saw the game out thus taking all of the points on their long trip home.
Report by Kevin Watts. Photos by Anthony Mills. Print the Teamsheet: Here.