There was more misery for Weymouth on Wednesday night as they suffered a crushing 3-1 defeat at struggling Frome Town in the Southern Premier League.
The defeat virtually ends any faint hopes the Terras still had of lifting the title, as they now lie six points adrift of Poole Town who also have four games in hand, after their 2-1 win at Biggleswade on Tuesday night. It’d take a monumental collapse from the Dolphins for Weymouth to claw their way back from here.
Frome made a bright start – clearly looking to take advantage of a nervous looking Weymouth, and had the games first real effort when Jon Vance failed to keep his composure, and blazed over the crossbar from the edge of the box.
Shortly after that Matt Smith went close – cutting in from the left and steering his shot just wide of the post.
Slowly but surely, Weymouth began to get a foothold, and Stewart Yetton almost opened the scoring with his first chance of the night, when he was sent through on goal, but his attempted lob landed on the roof of the net.
Shorty after that Chris Shephard let fly from range forcing the Robin’s keeper Darren Chitty into a great diving save, and from the resulting corner George Rigg’s effort was blocked on the line. In hindsight, it was perhaps an early warning that it was going to be another one of them games for Weymouth.
They were made to pay for those missed chances after 23 minutes, when Matt Smith won the ball in midfield and played a superb through ball to Haldane, and the big striker finished with a wonderful curling effort into the top corner which gave Matthews no chance. A real kick in the teeth for Weymouth.
It should have been 2-0 minutes later when Weymouth failed to properly clear the ball and it fell to Ollie Taylor on the edge of the box, but he blasted the ball into the car park.
Five minutes before the break, the Terras were left wondering what they had to do to score, as they came agonisingly close.
Dean Evans shot from 25 yards was palmed onto the post by Chitty, and it fell kindly for Alec Fiddes, but his powerful strike was straight at the keeper, who no doubt breathed a massive sigh of relief as the ball went out of play for a corner which came to nothing.
Ten minutes into the second half, former Terra Rhys Baggeridge doubled the home sides lead.
Weymouth’s decision to charge out from a free kick looking for an offside flag finally cost them, as Jason Matthews failed to gather the ball, and Baggeridge was left with the easiest of tap ins.
Weymouth made two changes – bringing on the two big men Tim Sills and Robbie Matthews for an aerial bombardment, but within seconds of them being introduced to the action, the hosts wrapped up the points.
Once again Jason Matthews failed to gather the ball, and Haldane had an easy tap in to put the hosts in dreamland.
A succession of corners followed as Frome battered the Terras defence.
Weymouth did pull one back ten minutes from time – Stewart Yetton firing home from the edge of the six yard box after a game of head tennis in the box, but it proved no more than a consolation. Weymouth had been well beaten yet again.
Where Weymouth go from here is unclear. They still sit third in the table but their form is among the worst in the league. They are shipping goals at an alarming rate, and seem to just wilt under any sort of pressure.
It doesn’t get any easier for them on Saturday when they travel to third bottom Arlesey Town.
Arlesey were possibly the worst side to visit the Bob Lucas Stadium this season when they were beaten 3-0 on December 28th, but that suddenly seems like a very long time ago.
They desperately need a win to keep themselves in with any hope of survival, and they’ll be licking their lips at the thought of Saturday’s game with Weymouth’s confidence at rock bottom.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Weymouth will be hoping local rivals Dorchester Town can do them a favour when they take on Redditch United at the Avenue stadium.
The Magpies have suddenly become very tough to beat under Mark Jermyn, but Saturday will be arguably his toughest game in charge against the play-off chasing Reds.
Meanwhile Poole Town will be expected to consolidate their place at the top of the table when they travel to Dunstable Town, but they’ll have to do it without manager Tommy Killick on the touchline, after he was given a six match stadium ban for breach of conduct in the Dolphin’s defeat to Redditch back in January. Still, Poole will be expected to come away with three points.
Weymouth will be hoping Dunstable pick up where they left off in the second half last weekend. With their current form, the Terras need all the help they can get…
James Spring
