There was late drama in all three games involving Dorset’s top non league sides this weekend, in what was probably the most dramatic weekend of the season so far.
There was late joy for Weymouth as Stewart Yetton’s 87th minute goal gave them all three points in a bad tempered clash with bottom club Banbury United at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
Weymouth started brightly, playing some neat passing football in the early exchanges. Adam Kelly tested Banbury keeper Leigh Bedwell from range. The Puritans keeper was to become a real pantomime villain as the afternoon wore on.
The keeper could only stand and watch Chris Shephard’s effort from range smash the crossbar on 20 minutes, as the Terras continued to press for an opener.
But completely against the run of play, it was the visitors who took a surprise lead just before the half hour mark.
In a rare spell of pressure on the Weymouth goal, the Terras defence failed to clear their lines, and Ben Whiteheads centre was turned home by “Marvellous” Marvin Martin – sparking wild celebrations among their three travelling supporters, and causing the visiting goalkeeper to run towards the Weymouth fans behind his goal in celebration.
But the keeper was to end up extremely red faced right on the stroke of half time, as it was his error which allowed the Terras to go in level at the break.
A through ball from Calvin Brooks took a deflection and fell perfectly into the path of Adam Kelly. The goalkeeper charged off his line to try and get to the ball first, but Kelly calmly slotted the ball under the keepers body to equalise.
Kelly had come off the bench and made an instant impact against Cray Wanderers last weekend, and this week George Rigg followed in his footsteps – coming off the bench to head the Terras into the lead with his first touch on 67 minutes.
More neat build up play resulted in Adam Kelly’s cross being headed against the crossbar by Jake Wannell, but it fell kindly to George Rigg on the goal line, who had the simple task of nodding it home.
At 2-1 up at home to the bottom side, one would have expected Weymouth to go on and maybe win by a few more from that point, but they fell asleep at the restart, and gifted the visitors an equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining.
A long throw out to the wing from Bedwell wasn’t picked up by Weymouth, and Leam Howards was allowed time and space to surge into the Weymouth box. Jason Matthews came off his line and forced Howards wide, but he managed to pull the ball back to Carl Tappin arriving on the edge of the area, who smashed the ball past two defenders into the top corner to pull the basement boys level.
Cue more overzealous celebrations from the United keeper. His antics were about to cause things to boil over.
Having spent much of the afternoon time wasting and seemingly revelling in winding up the home crowd, he beat Stewart Yetton to a cross and Yetton landed on top of him. The keeper grabbed hold of Yetton and threw a couple of punches, before rolling around pretending to be hurt.
A full on 22 man brawl ensued in the goal mouth, and in the chaos one idiotic drunken fan jumped over the barrier to try and get involved. Thankfully Stewart Yetton defused that particular situation before it got out of control, and the individual in question has already been banned from Weymouth games. The club could be handed a fine if the referee included the incident in his report.
Once everything had calmed down, Bedwell and Jake Wannell were both shown yellow cards, but by now the Bob Lucas was rocking, and after the keeper had tried to get the Terras captain sent off – what happened in the 87th minute was really rather apt.
Those who know me well will know I am not a great fan of short corners. I’m very much a “get it in the mixer” type. So of course it had to be a short corner which won us the game.
Weymouth won a corner, and whilst the Banbury defence was still trying to sort itself out, Weymouth took a quick short corner. The ball was played to Adam Kelly who found himself with half of the penalty area to himself. He cut inside one defender and pulled it back to Stewart Yetton, who stabbed the ball home to send the Terras fans behind the goal into delerium, and seal Weymouth a precious three points.
The keeper again lost his cool, and after trying to pick a fight with Tim Sills, he then booted the ball over the stand in a fit of rage, though some would say he was aiming for the fans. Despite the crowd baying for a red card, he stayed on the pitch. And was escorted from the pitch by some stewards at full time. After giving it the big “I am” for the last 90 minutes he suddenly looked a bit daft! Weymouth fans had had the last laugh, and they certainly let him know what they thought of him!
Just after Weymouth had scored, news then filtered around the Bob Lucas Stadium that Hitchin Town had scored a late winner at home to Poole Town, which just made things even better.
The Dolphins trip to Top Field was always going to be a tricky tie. They had been taken all the way to penalties in their FA Trophy replay on Tuesday night, and Hitchin were brimming with confidence following an incredible 7-3 win over local rivals Biggleswade Town.
An emotionally charged crowd of 1,606 turned out in support of Hitchin’s “save Top Field” protest march, and the big crowd seemed to inspire the hosts, who looked anything but overawed by the league leaders.
It was a tight and scrappy affair with very few clear cut chances. A slightly laboured performance from Poole, which was probably understandable after playing 120 minutes against Staines in midweek.
But it wasn’t until the 89th minute that the game was decided, and Poole will no doubt be kicking themselves to lose the game from a set piece.
Matt Lench wipped an inviting ball into the area, and Caneries defender Dan Webb rose highest to head past Nich Hutchings to cap off a big day for Hitchin Town with a big win.
The Dolphins late defeat still leaves them top of the table, but just three points ahead of second placed Cirencester Town. However it’s worth mentioning that Cirencester have played the most games in the division. More importantly, Weymouth are now just six points adrift and they have a game in hand which they will be expecting to win at home to struggling Bideford on Tuesday night.
Victory for Weymouth would put them third in the table, lifting them above St Neots Town. The Saints eventually picked up three points from what will probably go down as the game of the season against Dorchester Town on Saturday.
It was an unbeleavable eleven goal thriller, which saw eight goals in just the first half!
Drew Roberts gave St Neots the lead in just the fourth minute, but it was cancelled out by Matthews’ equaliser on 13 minutes.
Roberts was again on hand to put the hosts back in front on 25 minutes, but they fell alseep from the restart, and Nathan Walker headed Dorchester level just two minutes later.
Roberts completed his hat-trick in just the 35th minute, before Chris Dillon got the visitors third equaliser of the first half five minutes later.
Amazingly, that wasn’t the end of the first halfs action. Straight from the restart after Dillon’s equaliser, St Neots charged at Dorchester’s fragile defence, and Lewis Hiliard put the Saints 4-3 up on 40 minutes, to surely give them a half time lead.
But it wasn’t to be. Right on the stroke of half time, Mason Walsh scored Dorchester’s fourth equaliser, to complete a quite remarkable first half. Half time: 4-4, and 15 minutes for the fans to try and catch their breath.
The first 25 minutes of the second half settled down a little bit, but there was always going to be another goal in the game. And sure enough, twenty minutes from time just the ninth goal of the afternoon arrived. Only this time, the Magpies took the lead for the first time in the contest thanks to Jack Odam.
The Magpies were just twenty minutes away from pulling off one of the results of the season, but it was always going to be tough for them to hold on against the most feared strike force in the Southern Premier league.
The lead lasted for just six minutes before St Neots’ striker Christopher Dillon equalised.
Still, Dorch were on the verge of a fantastic point on the road, but in the 86th minute their hearts where shattered, when Ben Mackey popped up to give the promotion chasers a 6-5 lead.
The Dorchester players sunk to their knees in disbelief. They were unable to find a fifth equaliser of the afternoon, and were left to reflect on coming out on the wrong side of what will no doubt go down as one of, if not the most thrilling game in any division this season.
To score five goals away from home and still come away empty handed will leave Graham Kemp bitterly frustrated. But despite this heartbreaking defeat, there are signs of improvement at the Avenue.
They are beggining to find the net more often – having scored five goals on Saturday, and hit six at Swanage in the county cup on Wednesday night. But their leaky defence has cost them once again.
They now sit just one place above the relegation zone but they have a five point cushion over Burnham, who do have a game in hand.
The Magpies face a crucial relegation six pointer on Saturday when they welcome Paulton Rovers to the Avenue Stadium.
Rovers have struggled to adapt to life at this level since promotion, but they are finally finding some form – and will go into the game full of confidence after thrashing third bottom Arlesey Town 6-2 on Saturday. A result which moved them one point above Dorchester. The winner will give themselves some real breathing space.
Meanwhile both Weymouth and Poole will be in FA Trophy 1st round action on Saturday against Conference South opposition.
Poole travel to 15th placed Maidenhead, whilst Weymouth host their old rivals – promotion chasing Havant & Waterlooville, for what promises to be another fiery contest at the Bob Lucas Stadium. There’s certainly no love lost between these two clubs over the years.
The Conference South is where both Poole and Weymouth ultimately aim to be next season, so this weekend’s games will provide a good yard stick of where each side is.
James Spring
