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HomeDorset EastTerras halt Brakes & Dolphins consolodate top spot

Terras halt Brakes & Dolphins consolodate top spot

Well what a difference four days makes! Following two defeats over Easter Weymouth’s play-off hopes appeared to be dashed, but two straight home wins have reignited their season, and thanks to a hard fought 1-0 win over Leamington on Tuesday, their destiny is now in their own hands.

Leamington themselves went into the contest still with an outside chance of the title, and they had the first half chance of the game in the opening ten minutes when Richard Taundry’s free-kick found Ben Mackey, but with his back to goal the normally prolific striker could only flick the ball over the crossbar. 

Weymouth were well in the game though and were already causing the visiting defence a few problems. Mark Molesley set off on a powerful surging run before blazing his shot high and wide, whist Jordan Copp forced Tony Breedon into his first save of the evening shorty after. 

Then on twenty minutes came the first moment of controversy. Some neat build up play between Molesley and Copp lead to the ball being fizzed into the box to George Rigg. He took a neat first touch before being tripped by a defender. Remarkably, Weymouth’s appeals for a penalty were waved away by the referee, seemingly to the surprise of even the visiting defenders. 

And Weymouth’s frustrations were almost compounded a few minutes later when Sam Austin curled an effort inches wide of the post after shrugging off the attentions of two defenders.

George Rigg then tried his luck with a shot on the volley when the ball fell for him on the edge of the box, but his effort was well blocked by a defender, and after a nervy but entertaining first half, the two sides went in level at the break. 

Realistically a draw wasn’t going to do either side much good, but it was Weymouth who really started to dictate the game in the second half.

The pace of Jordan Copp continued to cause the visitors problems, and early in the second half he managed to get to the by-line before crossing to Dean Evans whose header was comfortably saved by Breedon.

Copp himself then shot wide from Ben Thomson’s lay off shortly after, as the hosts continued to crank up the pressure.

The Terras came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock ten minutes into the second half, but Jake Wannell failed to connect with the ball when seemingly unmarked in the six yard box from a corner.

That missed chance very nearly came back to haunt Weymouth as Leamington set off on a counter attack. Rob Ogleby raced onto a long punt over the Terras defence and forced a sharp diving save from Matthews.

And just minutes later the player-manager was celebrating seeing his side strike a crucial blow.

Ashley Wells was hauled down in the right channel and Weymouth were awarded a free-kick. Jordan Copp stepped up, and delivered a cross which was simply undefendable onto the head of Jake Wannell, who guided the ball into the far corner of the net to give Weymouth a crucial lead, and send the home fans into raptures.

The Terras weren’t content to just sit on their one goal lead though, and Chris Shephard was introduced to the action for the final twenty minutes as they looked for a second goal to kill the game off.

Fifteen minutes from time they very nearly got that second goal when Ben Thomson’s strike from the edge of the D was cleared off the line by a defender, before eventually being cleared after a quick game of pinball in the box.

Into the last five minutes Weymouth were awarded a free-kick in a similar position from which they’d scored, and in what was a near carbon copy, Copp’s delivery was headed narrowly wide of goal by Ben Thomson.

As the game went into injury time, there was another moment of controversy. With Leamington committing men forwards in search of an equaliser, Weymouth hit them on the break. A long ball over the top was chased down by Ben Thomson. In a moment of madness visiting goalkeeper Tony Breedon charged out of his area and committed a rash challenge on Thomson as he tried to lift the ball over him. The ball bounced into the path of Jordan Copp who blazed his effort over the unguarded goal. The home crowd called for a red card but the goalkeeper got away with only a yellow card.

Still, it didn’t matter, as the Terras played out the final few seconds comfortably to claim a crucial victory which puts them right back into contention for a play-off spot. It was a simply faultless performance defensively, with the visitors being forced into resorting to long throws to try and force a chance, but they were never able to really create anything clear cut, and in truth Weymouth deserved to win by a few more.

The victory means Weymouth now sit just three points off the play-offs with four games to go. The sides above them all have games against one another to come so it’s a certainty that someone will drop points somewhere along the line, but Weymouth really need to look to win all of their remaining games to extend their season.

Tuesday night’s result also effectively kills off Leamington’s title hopes, as Poole took complete control of the title race with a convincing 4-0 victory at Paulton Rovers which puts them six points clear of their nearest challengers with a game in hand, after Redditch were deducted three points.

Despite being certainties for the drop Paulton frustrated the Dolphins for the first 45 minutes, but just two minutes into the second half Luke Roberts gave Poole the lead, before two goals from Marvin Brooks and a goal for Tony Lee sealed a routine victory for the Dolphins.

On Saturday the Dolphins could take another giant step towards the title, but it won’t be easy as they face a trip to third placed Hitchin Town. The Canneries are level on points with Redditch, six adrift of the Dolphins, and really need to win to keep alive their own title hopes. Hitchin are unbeaten in their last six home games but the Dolphins won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Tatnam, so it promises to be an intriguing encounter.

No doubt both sides will have half an eye on events at the Avenue, as Dorchester welcome second placed Redditch to town. 

Meanwhile Weymouth face a long trek to Norfolk to take on Kings Lynn Town in a match they have to win to keep up the pressure on the sides above them.

The Lynnets’ own play-off aspirations died out weeks ago, so Weymouth really need to be winning the game if they’re serious about promotion. It won’t be straightforward, but its that stage of the season now where it’s all or nothing, and most football fans have hardly any nails left to chew!

James Spring

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