United Wey-laid (26.03.05)

A LACK of confidence allied to some basic defending errors saw the Magpies lose another home match against another very average team on Saturday.
The hosts played their part in this flowing encounter, and were the only team pressing in the final 15 minutes, but once again their endeavours failed to produce the required result.
In a match which beforehand they would have underscored as very winnable, the Magpies were punished in the first half for lapses in concentration, and ultimately it was their display in this first 45-minute spell which was their downfall.
Parity was yielded as early as the fourth minute when Jamie Cook over-elaborated on the edge of his area and was robbed of the ball, which eventually found its way to Chuck Eribenne.
The Weymouth No.10 created space for himself before firing home the opener.
The hosts were at sixes-and-sevens, and yet they managed to level proceedings just nine minutes later. The Terras keeper Francisco Ramos failed to deal with a Dean Clark cross while under pressure from Craig O’Connor, and Guy Ekwalla was on hand to drill the ball into the back of the net from eight yards.
Minutes later Jamie Cook had a one-on-one with the keeper, but this time the Weymouth No.1 did his bit to earn his win bonus.
The match now settled into its end-to-end nature, but it was the visitors who produced the finishing touches.
They grabbed the lead on 28 minutes when an aimless lob into the box was not cleared, and Shaun Williamson was able to poke the ball in from the ensuing scramble.
The Magpies still pushed on and Lee Kersey had a good header cleared, but it was Weymouth who bagged the crucial third.
Just four minutes before the break, Darren Wheeler sent a deep free-kick to the far post where the Magpies’ vertically-challenged defence was out-jumped by Matty Bound, who steered his unchallenged header past Adam Federici.
For the Magpies it was now all about playing catch-up – but they set about their task well.
With nothing to lose, they tested The Terras, who were, not unsurprisingly, content to sit back and play on the break.
The introduction of Lawrence Yaku added an extra edge up-front, but it took until the 70th minute for Weymouth to crack.
A Kersey chip into the danger area was fought for by O’Connor who then rammed the ball over the line despite a reaction half-stop from Ramos.
The final minutes saw Weymouth revert to a siege mentality, as the Magpies threw everything they had at them.
However, although the hosts never lost heart, they did lose the match and that’s all that mattered.

SHAPING UP: Lee Kersey shapes up to clear the ball out of defence at York Road on Saturday. Ref:88365/3