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Terras hold on to secure a draw & Poole march on in cup

Weymouth managed to grind out a hard fought point at Redditch United on Saturday despite taking an early lead.

Redditch made a bright start and they could, possibly even should have taken an early lead when the ball fell kindly for Jamie Molyneux ten yards out, but he could only fire straight at Jason Matthews who made a comfortable save.

That missed opportunity came home to roost on nine minutes when with their first attack – Weymouth took the lead.

Jake Wannell sent in a deep cross which was initially palmed away by Redditch goalkeeper Jose Veiga, but it bounced straight to Dean Evan coming in at the back post, and he somehow squeezed a header over the line from an incredibly tight angle to give the visitors the lead.

It was a tight and scrappy affair with scoring chances coming at a premium, but Weymouth were looking comfortable – keeping the ball well and controlling the tempo of the game.

It was almost 2-0 after half an hour when neat build up play lead to George Rigg having a shot from the edge of the box charged down, but it broke for Thomson who couldn’t quite dig the ball out from under his feet, and after a quick game of pinball in the box the ball was eventually cleared.

The action was then halted for twenty minutes as Redditch defender Jamie Ashmore went down and required medical attention. It looked fairly inocuous – he jumped for a header and went down with nobody around him. The pitch certainly wasn’t the best so whether he landed on a divot or something was unclear, but both physios were called onto the pitch and an ambulance was also called. He eventually hobbled his way into the ambulance to polite applause from both sides, but was unable to put any weight at all on his right leg. Fingers crossed it’s not as serious as it looked and he makes a speedy recovery.

Perhaps the twenty minute delay had an effect, as in the fifteenth minute of injury time the Terras shot themselves in the foot by gifting United an equaliser.

When the ball was played back to Chris McPhee there didn’t appear to be any immediate danger, but his attempted pass back to Jason Matthews was latched onto by Jamey Osborne, and with Matthews in no mans land – he slid the ball into an unguarded net to send the sides in level at the break.

Early in the second half Mark Cooper almost spared his teammates blushes when he shot from the edge of the box but it was well saved by the keeper, and from then on Redditch began to get on top.

A driving run into the box lead to a shot cannoning back off the crossbar, before Jason Matthews produced a stunning point blanc save to deny the hosts.

Late on Mark Cooper blocked an effort on the line, as Weymouth held on to secure a draw.

On the one hand they would’ve been pretty frustrated not to take all three points having gifted their hosts a way back into the game just when they looked in complete control. But on the other hand they should also be pleased to come away from what is normally a difficult place to go having avoided defeat, and they extend their unbeaten run in the league to seven games.

The draw moves them to within a point of second placed Poole Town, who were in FA Cup action on Saturday – and they’ve moved to within one tie of the first round proper after they eased to a 2-0 victory at Hastings United.

Jamie Whisken gave the Dolphins the perfect start – firing home Michael Walker’s knockdown from Steve Devlin’s cross in just the third minute of the game.

Hastings had a couple of half chances on the counter attack but the Poole defence stood firm, and right on the stroke of half time Marvin Brooks put Poole in control – firing home after Michael Walker’s initial effort was saved by the goalkeeper.

Poole played out the second half comfortably to book their place in the fourth qualifying round where they will face conference south opposition for the second time, in either Whitehawk or Gosport Borough away – depending on who wins the replay on Tuesday night.

Poole themselves will be in cup action again on Tuesday night as they begin their defence of the Red Insure Cup with a trip to the Avenue to face Dorchester.

Weymouth will also be in Red Insure Cup action, and they’ll be going in the other direction to face Wimborne Town.

It’s certainly fair to say this competition will probably be at the bottom of all three sides list of priorities, and the chances are they will use this competition to rest a few regulars and give an opportunity to a few fringe players and youngsters. 

James Spring

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