Weymouth and Dorchester Town both booked their placed in the 4th qualifying round of the FA cup with 1-0 wins over Billericay Town and Hendon respectively on Saturday.
Weymouth made the long trip to Essex, and squeezed through in a tight and nervy affiar at the New Lodge.
Upon arrival at the ground, Weymouth fans could have been forgiven for suddenly fearing the worst when they saw that the referee for the afternoon was a certain David Spain. Spain refereed a now infamous FA Cup tie in the same round at AFC Totton back in 2011, when he sent 3 Weymouth players off and gave Totton 2 penalties. No Terras fan who was there that afternoon will forget it in a hurry; and they were certainly in no mood to forgive or forget – getting on his case at every available opportunity!
David Spain must have had a bad holiday in Weymouth at some point, he seemed to be out to anger the visiting fans in the first half – booking Chris Shephard for diving when he had his legs taken out from under him, and not even giving a foul when George Rigg took a blatent elbow to the face – resulting in a nasty cut above his eye which required stitches.
Rigg had had Weymouth’s first real effort shortly before that, when he unleashed a shot from 30 yards which the Billericay keeper did well to get down to and punch away.
There was an amusing moment just after when the keeper turned to the Weymouth fans to ask if the shot was going in. The beauty of non league!
Stewart Yetton grabbed the all important goal right on the stroke of half time, when he lost his man and headed home Chris Shephard’s cross from the left, sending around a hundred travelling fans wild.
Yetton had a golden chance to double the lead early in the second half from the penalty spot, but his effort was saved by the keeper. We were sort of hoping the keeper would let him score, after he had openly admitted to the Weymouth fans that he’d rather lose than draw, as he didn’t fancy the treck down here on a Tuesday night because he had a long day at work on Wednesday. You just wouldn’t get that at Old Trafford…
Billericay came to life after that. Powerhouse Ricky Sappleton came off the bench and caused probems with his long throws and driving, powerfull runs. But Jason Matthews only had two decent saves to make – the defence was solid all afternoon – faultless.
The final few seconds were made a bit less nervy when Billericay were somewhat harshly reduced to ten men. A penalty and a red card. Maybe Spain had a guilty conscience? Either way, all is NOT forgiven.
Weymouth held on to secure £7,500 in prize money and a place in the 4th qualifying round. The celebrations between the players and fans at full time, and on the coach home reflected the magnitute of the result – fantastic scenes.
Despite the euphoria of Saturday, there was an air of dissapointment about the draw today as for the second year in a row – we were drawn at home to Conference club Braintree Town. Braintree won 2-1 at the same stage last year, but the Terras have made big strides forward over the last 12 months, so fingers crossed we can cause an upset this year. In truth Weymouth will need to win the tie to make anything from it really. Braintree, with the greatest of respect – are not a name who will bring the crowds in, and they don’t travel in particularly big numbers, in complete contrast to Dorchester’s next opponents.
The Magpies were rewarded for their 1-0 win over Hendon with a plum tie at home to the biggest club in the draw – Bristol Rovers.
Rovers were relegated from the football league for the first time in their history on the final day of last season, and currently sit fourth in the Conference – four points off top spot.
They are by far and away the best supported club in non league in terms of numbers, so it promises to be a bumper crowd at the Avenue on the 25th. Possibly even a sell-out.
Andy Robinson netted the winning goal on Saturday. What an inspired piece of business that’s already turned out to be from boss Graham Kemp! He only arrived at the club on Thursday, but his debut goal on Saturday earned the club £7,500 and set up another big pay day in the next round. He’s already paid for himself.
Back in the southern league, Poole Town’s unbeaten start finally came to an end with a 3-2 loss at second placed St Neots Town.
Jamie Whisken had given Poole an early lead, but a Drew Roberts equaliser right on the stroke of half time was the turning point. He turned the game on it’s head just past the hour mark before Lewis Hilliard added a third 5 minutes from time. Despite a late consolation, Poole finally suffered their first league defeat. They do however remain 3 points clear of the Saints with a game in hand.
They’ll be looking to bounce back on Saturday when they face crisis club Hereford United at Tatnam. Meanwhile Weymouth will face yet another long away trip – this time to fourth placed Dunstable Town; whilst Dorchester face Hitchin Town in a fourth consecutive home game.
But before all of that – all three clubs are in Red Insure League Cup action tomorrow night in two local derbies.
There’s a second Ridgeway Derby of the season at the Bob Lucas Stadium between Weymouth and Dorchester Town, whilst Poole welcome near neighbours Wimborne Town to Tatnam.
With all three sides facing crucial league matches at the weekend, and coming off the back of a fairly hectic few weeks – one would imagine all three managers will choose to rest a few of their key players. The truth is none of the clubs will be particularly bothered about this competition, but they will no doubt be keen to at least put one over on their local rivals.
James Spring