It was a tale of spot kicks for both Weymouth and Dorchester last night, with Weymouth winning with two and Dorchester suffering late heartache through one against them.
Dorchester Town made a perfect start to their season at home to Histon on Saturday, as goals from Tony Lee, Jonah Ayunga and Charlie Davis handed them a 3-0 victory.
This meant they went into Tuesday night’s game away at Cirencester with the wind in their sales, and the confidence that they could come away with a result.
But they made the worst possible start – falling behind just two minutes into the game when Charlie Griffin headed home from a corner.
This time last year that probably would have seen the Magpies collapse to a heavy defeat, but they’re made of much tougher stuff these days, and after a couple of near misses – they equalised five minutes before the break through a moment of brilliant skill from young Jonah Ayunga.
He nodded the ball in between two defenders, before using his superior pace to latch onto the loose ball and lob the keeper with a clever finish. 1-1.
The Magpies were now in full flight, and it got even better for them right on the stroke of half time when Tony Lee raced through and rounded the keeper, scoring off the post to put the visitors 2-1 up at the break.
The Magpies knew they would have to weather a storm at the start of the second half, and after a couple of good efforts, the hosts did equalise – again from a corner. This time it was Kieran Jones who headed home.
Suddenly the momentum had shifted completely, and just two minutes after equalising, the Centurions went 3-2 up when Stuart Parsons scored with a beauty of a free-kick.
Cirencester were well on top now, and should have had a fourth when Jones’s header was cleared off the line by a desperate defender. And shortly afterwards, Magpies’ goalkeeper Alan Walker-Harris did superbly well to tip Langworthy’s volley onto the crossbar.
Then, out of nowhere – the visitors struck back in stunning style.
Matt Oldring recieved the ball 25 yards out, took aim, and hit a powerful strike into the bottom corner of the net to haul his side level with 13 minutes left to play.
It looked like the Magpies were going to get a deserved share of the spoils, but then six minutes from time they suffered heartache, as Langworthy went down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.
Parsons kept his cool, and slotted the ball past Wallker-Harris to put the hosts within touching distance of a dramatic victory.
There was still time for one last chance for Dorchester, and Mark Irvine had a good chance to earn them a draw when he went through one on one with the goalkeeper, but the keeper did well to deny the substitute, and that was the last chance of the game.
It was a cruel defeat for the Magpies, but there are plenty of positives to take from it. They caused a side many are tipping for the play-offs plenty of problems, and they didn’t roll over when conceding an early goal like they did last season.
The same can be said of Weymouth, who came from behind to beat Paulton Rovers comfortably at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
Having suffered a frustrating 1-0 defeat at Cambridge City in their opener, the Terras could easily have let their heads drop when Sam Teale fired home from a corner in just the third minute of the game.
For the first half an hour or so the Terras looked nervous, and struggled to break down Rovers – often resorting to lumping it long to Yetton with little success.
But eventually the penny dropped, and the Terras began to play their football on the deck.
Rigg, Kelly and Evans all went close before eventually, the Terras equalised two minutes before the break when Adam Kelly was sent down the wing in acres of space, and he pulled it back across the face of goal for Yetton to stab home.
Early in the second half, Kelly was hauled down inside the box, but to the amazement of everybody the referee waved play on, and Paulton almost hit the Terras with a sucker punch on the counter, as Ben Bament clipped the top of the crossbar with an effort from the edge of the box.
But by now Weymouth were looking well on top, and on the hour mark they completed the turnaround.
Adam Kelly’s surge into the box was brought to an end by Alex Grimshaw, and this time the referee did award a penalty.
Yetton fluffed his lines from the spot on Saturday, so Jordan Copp took responsibility, and he sent the keeper the wrong way to give the Terras the lead.
Weymouth were now brimming with confidence, and Rovers were struggling to live with them.
Just four minutes later there was a real feeling of Deja-vu, as the exact same set of events occurred, and Weymouth doubled their advantage.
There was only one side in this now, and Yetton came to within inches of making it four when his towering header sailed inches wide of the far post.
Everybody in a claret & blue shirt was lining up to have a crack, and when Mark Molesley tried his luck from range, his luck was in, as the ball took a wicked deflection off ex Terra Scott Brice, leaving Ben John in goal completely wrong footed and able to do nothing but watch the ball bounce into the net.
That sealed a comprehensive win for the Terras, and in truth Paulton could have had no complaints if it had been 5 or 6. The one negative for Weymouth was the injury to George Rigg. He took a heavy blow to his back, and was down for some time before eventually being helped off the pitch. Here’s hoping its not as serious as it looked at first.
Despite a stuttering first half an hour it was the perfect start on home soil for Weymouth. Their second half performance was reminiscent of the football they were playing at the start of last season, and if they can take that level of performance into their next game, there’s no reason why they can’t go on a winning run.
Meanwhile Poole Town have got off to a solid start after two tough opening games.
On Saturday Richard Gillespie’s third minute goal was enough to see off newly promoted Kettering Town, before a hard fought goalless draw at Hungerford on Monday night saw them go top of the table for 24 hours.
The Dolphins will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten record on Saturday when they make the long trip to fellow title favourites St Neots Town.
Like the Dolphins, the Saints have picked up one win and one draw so far, and whilst nothing will be won or lost in terms of the league on Saturday, it’s a good opportunity for one side to strike a big psychological blow early on, and send a real statement of intent to the rest of the league.
Weymouth welcome big spending Dunstable Town to the Bob Lucas Stadium, whilst Dorchester face a trip to Hungerford Town.
Despite their impressive looking front line, the Crusaders have only managed two goalless draws so far, but with the Magpies two matches so far involving a total of ten goals, you’d be surprised if that didn’t change on Saturday.
Dunstable have made a surprisingly poor start having thrown a lot of money around over the summer – suffering back-to-back defeats to Chippenham Town and Histon in their first two games. They will surely get going soon with the players they have, but Weymouth will be hoping to heap more pressure on them with a win on Saturday.
James Spring
