BUCKLAND Athletic welcomed Plymouth Parkway to Homers Heath for a final pre-season runout before the new campaign gets underway.

It proved to be a “useful exercise” in the words of manager Matt Cusack with the home side able to hold their own against higher-league opposition, losing 3-2.

Cusack’s men opened the scoring in Newton Abbot, Jared Lewington rising well to head over the oncoming goalkeeper and into an empty net.

Parkway came firing back, James Watts-Barciela driving down the right and forcing Bucks defender Scott Pocock into an own-goal from a dangerous cross.

Shortly after, the visiting number nine Rocky Neal was down in a heap but the voracious appeals for a penalty fell on death ears- this wasn’t the first time that those in yellow would be underwhelmed by the officiating.

Then, it was the turn of the Buckland players to complain; arms were aloft for an offside but Neal had beaten the defensive line and was able to slot beyond Jordan Duffey as well.

As has been a regular feature throughout pre-season, a few lively challenges started to fly in with the referee needing to give a talking-to here and there.

Parkway took a 3-1 lead after the break, courtesy of a Callum Hall cracker. Ben Carter was dispossessed on the edge of the box and Hall picked the ball up before letting off a rocket, finding the net via the underside of the bar.

The majority of the second half ebbed and flowed with both managers ringing the changes, either side attempting to build on the passages of play that they’ve clearly been working on in training.

One of those to be subbed on for Buckland was young forward Will Hughes and his hard work, along with that of winger Phil Mendonca, paid dividends. They were both harrying the Parkway defence and the former pulled a goal back by way of the goalkeeper firing it in, off of him.

Another home player to enter the game from the bench was Sammy Stayt and he had to be carried off by a teammate with what looked to be quite a bad injury.

After the game, Cusack commented, “We lost Sammy with what looks like a bit of a nasty knee injury so we’ll need to assess that one. Other than that though, we’ve got a clean bill of health, ready to attack the season.”

He added, “With Sammy, it was a really innocuous one. I had a chat with him, he just felt it when he was turning and heard a pop so we’ll have to assess that one but I think he’ll be struggling for Saturday if I’m looking at that one now.”

Moving forward now and we are just days away from the Western League opener which sees Newquay AFC visit the VX3 Stadium.

Cusack says he “feels like we’re ready” after a “really tough pre-season”, joking that “I’m hoping [the first game] is going to go better than the last one where I lost 4-0 on the opening day.”