Weymouth put in a quite heroic performance in their FA Cup replay on Tuesday night, but sadly they eventually bowed out of the competition after defeat in extra time to Conference outfit Braintree Town.
The Terras thus miss out on a lucrative tie at home to Chesterfield in the first round proper. But despite the defeat, the Terras can hold their heads high, as they put in an amazing shift in Essex against their opponents from two league’s above, that very nearly saw them pull off an upset.
Preperation wasn’t ideal. Despite leaving Weymouth at 1:30pm, the team didn’t actually arrive at Braintree’s Amlin Stadium until 7pm, thanks to very heavy traffic on the way. Me and a three friends drove ourselves, and actually got to the ground right behind them despite leaving half an hour later.
Despite this, there was no delay to the kick off time, and Weymouth were left with about 15 minutes to warm up. Or in my case, buy a cup of tea and a programme.
The lack of preperation told for the first 20 minutes or so, as Braintree looked much sharper. However it was Weymouth who came closest to breaking the deadlock when Adam Kelly created space, and hit a curling effort from the edge of the area which smashed the crossbar. A huge sigh of relief went around most of the crowd, whilst the 100 or so travelling Terras fans only got louder.
But right on the stroke of half time, the Terras gifted Braintree a lead.
A weak back pass was played to goalkeeper and manager Jason Matthews. His clearence was charged down by Jordan Cox, and from his point of view the ball bounced perfectly into his path for him to tap into an ungaurded net. Dissapointment and frustration for Weymouth, who up until that point had more than held their own, just like on Saturday.
Braintree suddenly looked a lot more confident at the start of the second half, and they doubled their lead on 51 minutes when Simeon Akinola fired hard and low into the bottom corner.
Admittedly I myself thought that was game over. And in past seasons, from that point Weymouth would probably have gone on to suffer a pretty humiliating defeat. But this team is made of sturn stuff, and the never say die attitude and will to win that Matthews has installed in them was about to really shine through.
Sure enough, just 7 minutes later – Adam Kelly restorted hope, hitting a wonderfull curling effort into the top right corner. The Braintree keeper just stood and watched.
Suddenly there was a spring in Weymouth’s step. They were playing some brilliant passing football, and Braintree looked nervous. But then with 20 minutes to go, Dan Walker restored the hosts two goal cushion – cutting inside the defender to hit a shot into the far corner. Surely that was that? Well actually, this was the start of something very special!
Adam Kelly it seemed could only score if he shot from outside the box. But barely 60 seconds after Walker had seemingly killed the game, Kelly scored his second – and it was inside the box! Stewart Yetton raced onto Chris Shephard’s cross field ball, and squared it to Kelly about 6 yards out, who had a simple tap in to make it 3-2.
The Weymouth following had not stopped singing all night, but now they got louder than ever, as the Terras pushed for the equaliser.
And on 76 minutes – just 5 minutes after Dan Walker had given Braintree a 3-1 lead; the Terras supporters were sent into wild celebrations, the likes of which we’ve not seen for a long time.
The ball was played into the box and Adam Kelly’s shot was blocked by a defender, but it fell kindly for Stewart Yetton on the edge of the six yard box, who had time to control the ball and fire it into the net, to complete a quite remarkable fightback. There was absolute carnage among the away fans when that went in. The players jumped in with the fans, while Braintree’s stewards tried desperatly to calm us down. How dare you celebrate a goal at a football match?
Meanwhile someone grabbed me from behind and we went charging down the terrace together, and in the melee that followed I took a blow to the lip. Didn’t care though, it was worth it – an amazing moment!
Braintree were stunned, and Weymouth were now brimming with confidence. The last 15 minutes became a real end to end battle, with Jason Matthews pulling off a couple of saves to keep the scores level, whilst Chris Shephard had a shot comfortably saved by the Braintree keeper.
The full time whistle went, and Weymouth’s fans celebrated what already felt like a win. It didn’t matter what happened in extra time, this team had already done us proud.
Truth be told – Braintree completely dominated extra time. The superior fitness of the conference outfit really told. They had a full squad of players and were therefore able to make substitutions. Weymouth on the other hand only had 4 subs available – two of which were already carrying knocks, and one was a goalkeeper.
Three minutes into extra time, Akinola rose above his marker and headed the ball perfectly into the far corner, giving Matthews no chance, and sparking more wild celebrations – this time among Braintree’s under 14s massive.
In truth, Weymouth never really threatened to get back into it in extra time, but that is not to say they have up. They continued to lay their bodies on the line – blocking shots and putting last ditch tackles in. They also continued to play some neat football when they did get it.
On 108 minutes, Dan Walker got his second of the night to give Braintree a two goal cushion for the third time on the night – latching onto a miss placed pass and having time to pick his spot before firing hard and low into the bottom corner, to finally kill off the Terras hopes.
The last 10 minutes peatered out, with the hosts happy to play time out.
The full time whistle signalled the end of Weymouth’s FA Cup run for another season, but the away following didn’t care. They continued to sing all night, and did the club proud. Quite frankly they put Braintree’s following to shame. Despite being two league’s higher, they only brought around 20 fans on Saturday, and the attendance of 480 was some 500 down on Saturday’s gate.
The Terras players had given absolutely everything, and we felt nothing but pride in our team. It didn’t feel like a defeat at all. We’d matched our conference opponents all the way over both games, and in the end all that won them the tie was their superior fitness.
The shattered players could barely muster enough energy to walk off the pitch, but they did so to a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from the Braintree fans, who were quick to admit that they had been given a sturner test than they imagined. Some home fans even said that Weymouth were better than some of the Conference teams they’d seen this season.
Weymouth should take great heart and courage from that performance. This club has been to hell and back over the last few years, and that performance felt like confirmation that the club really has turned a corner. At 2-0 and 3-1 down it would have been easy for the team to think it simply wasn’t to be, and roll over. We’ve seen that happen all too often in recent years. But they fought to the bitter end, they never looked a beaten side.
It was a special night for the fans. We’ve stood and watched some real dross over the years, and been through a lot. So to see so many happy, smiling faces was so heartwarming. We’ve pulled off some fantastic wins in the league this season, but hand on heart this was the proudest I’d been for a long long time.
As one door closes, another one opens – with the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy this weekend. Weymouth play host to south & west division side Shortwood United, and will be looking to right a wrong, after the village team dumped them out of the same competition at the Bob Lucas Stadium two seasons ago.
It will no doubt be another very tough game. Any win will do. Truth be told the players shouldn’t really have anything left to give so soon after their heroics in Essex, but with that strong will to win and never say die attitude, you just know they’ll be up for it. And after Tuesday’s performance, they deserve a big turnout.
Well done Weymouth, you did us incredibly proud on Tuesday night. Now let’s take all the positives from it and continue to move forwards.
James Spring
