The Weymouth faithful were not afraid to voice their displeasure at full time on Saturday, after they watched their side put in a very poor display against fellow promotion chasers Hitchin Town.
Having been frustrated by bottom of the table Paulton Rovers on Tuesday, Jason Matthews made four changes to his side for what he labelled a “must win” clash. Chris McPhee, Adam Kelly and Billy Lowes were dropped to the bench in place of George Rigg, Sam Surridge and Ben Thomson, whilst Pat Baldwin took the captain’s armband from Stewart Yetton.
Hitchin went into the game as the league’s form side, having not lost any of their previous eleven league games, and they quickly set about showing why – knocking the ball about with confidence and Matt Lench forcing Matthews into a fairly comfortable save less than two minutes in.
A few minutes later the visitors won a corner, and Robbie Burns’ flick-on fell to Callum Donnelly, but the striker could only blaze his effort over the bar.
Hitchin were dominating the early stages, and Matthews again had to be on his toes to tip a Josh Bickerstaff header over the bar. But after a quarter of an hour the player-manager went from hero to villain.
Matthews charged out of his area into the left channel to make a clearance, but he scuffed his clearance, and with the Terras midfield nowhere to be seen the ball fell straight to Matt Lench who kept his cool and fired home into an unguarded goal from 40 yards.
Hitchin were working hard – constantly hassling and closing down when Weymouth had the ball, and Weymouth were showing early signs of frustration. Ben Thomson went flying into a challenge on Bickerstaff right in front of the dugouts, causing a bit of handbags between both sets of players.
Weymouth failed to test the visiting goalkeeper at all in the first half. Their best chance came when Sam Surridge picked the ball up on the edge of the D, but he failed to control it properly and the ball was cleared to safety.
Matthews limited the damage before half time, tipping Jonny McNamara’s effort around the post after Calvin Brooks had lost his footing.
Mark Cooper was then on hand to clear another effort from McNamara off the line to keep the Terras in the game going into the break.
Whatever was said in the dressing room at half time didn’t work, as the Canaries continued to control proceedings. McNamara was causing the Terras all sorts of problems, and Matthews was again on hand to make a smart save with his legs when the Hitchin man was sent clean through on goal.
It took until the hour mark for the Terras to fashion their first real chance on goal. Dean Evans did well to win back possession in midfield and release Surridge down the right. He found Shephard on the edge of the box, and his powerful shot was deflected behind for a corner off the head of a defender. But the resulting corner failed to even clear the first defender.
Kelly and Yetton were introduced to the action but Weymouth continued to give away possession cheaply all too often.
The closest they came was from a free-kick after Kelly was tripped on the edge of the box, but Shephard’s effort was tipped over the bar by Charlie Horlock, for what proved to be the only save he made all afternoon.
Twelve minutes from time Hitchin won a free-kick of their own on the edge of the area, and Alasan Ann drove the ball into the corner to double the visitors lead.
That second goal was the signal for many of the home crowd to head for the exits, whilst many of those who stayed voiced their displeasure with chants of “this isn’t good enough”.
The boos rang out at full time, as the Terras slumped to a crushing defeat.
It is only their second home defeat of the season, but it’s now just one win in seven for the Terras, and for many the performances haven’t been up to standard for a while.
The defeat see’s them drop a further place to eighth, only two points adrift of the play-offs but having played a game more than fifth placed Redditch.
They have a good opportunity to get back on track on Tuesday night when they host bottom club Paulton Rovers, this time in the third round of the Red Insure Cup. They know from last Tuesday that Paulton are no mugs, but perhaps a break from the league is a good chance to get a win under their belts and get some confidence back into the side before Saturday’s trip to 20th placed Histon.
James Spring
