Preview by Eddie Hufford
Plymouth Parkway vs Horsham
Saturday 3rd October 2026
3pm kick off
Bolitho Park, Plymouth
Horsham continue their quest for a fourth appearance in six years in the first round proper of England’s premier cup competition when they make the five-hour trek to Plymouth to face a side that sits top of the Southern League Premier Division South.
After achieving the rare feat of a double-digit win and shattering the record for their biggest victory at the Fusion Aviation Community Stadium to cruise into the Sussex Senior Cup third round on Tuesday night, Dom Di Paola’s Hornets now travel to Devon for one of their biggest games of the season, when the possibility of getting into the first round proper and potentially facing an established Football League club is up for grabs.
Horsham will need to hold off a side that is clearly on cloud nine as they sit top of their division with a +15 goal difference, despite being held to a draw away at Gloucester City last time out. For Parkway, a win on Saturday would match their best-ever FA Cup run, achieved in 2023-24 when they lost to the Hornets’ Sussex rivals, Worthing.
The Westcountry side cannot seem to stop scoring in the League, with 23 goals in 9 games, and look well on track to reach the National League South for the first time in their history.
The Hornets sit sixteenth in the National League South with just two wins in their first nine league games, and despite the commanding win against Newhaven on Tuesday night, goalscoring has been something of an issue. They will hope that the lack of goals continues to be remedied in this fixture, with Ashley Nadesan and Reece Meekums both having scored a brace against Newhaven on Tuesday. Despite arguably having the better side on paper, Horsham will need to watch out for the FA Cup magic that has seen countless underdogs prevail in this competition
The opposition
For a club whose best league finish in their current division is 10th, it has been a dream start to the season under new manager Karl Curtis.
The former Torpoint manager took the reins ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, having previously served as both assistant manager and first-team coach at Parkway. He signed a new long-term contract until 2029 at the beginning of this month.
The club was formed relatively recently, in 1988, and was previously known as the Ex-Air Flyers under a sponsorship deal with Exeter Airport. They subsequently moved to the Parkway Sports Club, from which their current name derives. Having started out in Division 4 of the Plymouth & District League, they have enjoyed multiple promotions and achieved Southern League Premier Division status in 2021, remaining there ever since.
Players to Watch
Andrew Neal – The top goalscorer in the Southern League Premier Division with nine goals. The prolific No 9, known as ‘Rocky’ by his teammates, has established himself as one of the Westcountry’s best, having featured for Tiverton and Bodmin, amongst others. The 32-year-old also played for Truro City, scoring the decisive goal which won the Tinners the league title and achieved promotion to the National League in 2024-25.
Rio Garside – The 25-year-old dynamic midfielder was named captain ahead of the 2026-27 season. Parkway’s second-top goal contributor, with 3 goals and 5 assists, he has racked up a double century of appearances and shares the midfield with his younger brother Carlo.
Toby Down – A former Manager’s Player of the Season, the experienced 28-year-old defender is in his second spell with Parkway after re-joining the club at the tail end of last season. He has the distinction of scoring his team’s first two goals in this campaign.
Horsham Latest
Dan Ajakaiye, one of the Hornets’ heroes in the run to the FA Cup 2nd round in 2023-4, is back at the club on a game-by-game basis. The West Ham academy product put on a clinic on Tuesday evening that made fans reminisce about his first spell, when he scored twice and claimed three assists – all after coming on as a half-time substitute!
Jack Strange, a Hornets stalwart for the last four seasons and a 2024-25 Isthmian League Premier Division winner, this week joined Burgess Hill Town, having found game time hard to come by this season.
Reece Meekums made his return from injury against Newhaven and looks set to feature, but leading goalscorer Greg Luer is still a little way from being fully fit.
Overall, Dom Di Paola is relatively happy with squad availability, particularly as Niall McManus was able to make his long-awaited debut on Tuesday.
“I could find nothing negative to say about the performance on Tuesday,” said the boss. “Some of our play was really excellent and some of the boys who haven’t played much were desperate to show they were worthy of a start.
“We’ve mostly been playing well but we need more goals on the board, so it was good see us be so clinical against Newhaven, with a couple of lads [Marco Haigh and Harry Hedges] scoring their first goals for the club.
“Plymouth Parkway will be really tough. They’re six undefeated in the league and unbeaten at home. It’s like when we played Folkestone last year in the FA Cup. They were at the top of their game and they knocked us out, even though we were the better side apart from a mad 15 minutes either side of half-time.
“Parkway have a very stable side. I normally watch the opposition five times but I’ve watched seven of their games. They’re a good side, but so are we. It should be a cracker.”