Jason Matthews’ fortieth birthday celebrations were dampened on Saturday as he watched his side throw away a 2-0 lead at home to struggling Dunstable Town.
If ever the phrase “a game of two halves” summed up a game so perfectly it was this one.
Having taken a step towards recovering from last weekend’s massacre at Chesham with a hard fought 3-2 win over rivals Poole Town in the Dorset Senior Cup semi finals, the Terras stuck with Jordan Copp and Callum Laird in defence – both having impressed in the midweek game.
And in the first half they picked up where they left off on Tuesday, playing some brilliant attacking football and looking like they could tear Dunstable a new one.
They took the lead on 23 minutes through Chris Shephard, and just ten minutes later Stewart Yetton was on hand to double the lead, as the visitors tried desperately to defend against wave after wave of Weymouth attacks.
In truth the game should have been wrapped up by half time, but whatever was said in the visitors dressing room at the break clearly had the desired effect, as Dunstable came out for the second half looking like a different team, and seemingly believing they could get back into it.
They halved the deficit just past the hour mark, and given the rate at which Weymouth have been leaking goals in recent weeks, it was little surprise when the visitors equalised fifteen minutes from time.
The Terras huffed and puffed in the closing stages but to no avail.
A victory would have seen Weymouth move to within a point of Poole Town who didn’t play, and two points off Corby Town, but once again they’d thrown it away.
The Terras’ current form is a major concern. Three capitulations on the road in the last month have left them with a lot to do to win the title, and another capitulation on Saturday in terms of performance at least has left many fans feeling pretty disgruntled.
Weymouth have now won just three of their last fourteen games since the turn of the year, and confidence is suddenly very fragile. Every time they come under any sort of pressure they seem to just collapse at the minute, which is strange considering one of the main attributes that took them top of the table in the first half of the season was their shear will to win and never say die attitude.
They’ll need to re-discover those traits and quickly if they are to stay in contention, with a trip to Frome Town coming up on Wednesday night.
Frome sit just one place above the drop zone but with a five point cushion over Arlesey Town, and they have won their last two games without conceding – including an impressive 1-0 win over play-off chasing Hungerford on Saturday.
The Robins are fighting for their lives and will be out to cause an upset. The Terras must dig in and fight for their lives if they are to come away with three much needed points. A victory could see them move level on points with Poole Town if the Dolphins lose tonight at Biggleswade Town.
The Waders beat Corby in their last home game, and they pushed the Dolphins hard in the two meetings between the clubs in the league and cup earlier this season.
Dorchester Town have a midweek break following their hard fought goalless draw away to Hitchin Town on Saturday. It was a rather lackluster contest between two sides who aren’t really playing for anything, but considering the position the Magpies were in just a couple of months ago, they’ll take that all day long.
On Saturday they welcome promotion chasing Redditch United to the Avenue stadium, and not for the first time this season – fans of both Weymouth and Poole Town will be hoping the county town outfit do them a favour by taking points from one of their promotion rivals. And with the Magpies having lost just two of their last ten games, you wouldn’t bet against them.
James Spring
