Weymouth 1s 0- 3 Blandford 1s

Weymouth’s first preseason friendly saw them host Blandford, a team currently playing two divisions above the home side, in a competitive local derby. The match featured the return of self-proclaimed ‘living legend’ Wayne Goff, following his retirement from the game at the end of last season. Weymouth started the game well, playing a fluid passing game and looked the better side for much of the first half, a dominance facilitated by some fine play from Matt Lawes and Matt Bell in central midfield. However, a series of defensive misjudgements from the hosts allowed Blandford to sneak a soft opener past goalkeeper Dukes’ near post after fifteen minutes of play.
Weymouth however continued to create goal scoring opportunities, with forward Patrick May playing a number of dangerous balls across the Blandford goal line, and only the lack of a final touch preventing the scores being levelled. The visitors too had their share of chances to increase the lead, and succeeded in converting a short corner to go into the half time break two goals up.
The second half saw Weymouth continue to pressure the Blandford twenty-five, leading to a number of goalmouth scrambles and short corners, and it took some last ditch defending to preserve the two goal advantage. The visitor’s midfield was peppered throughout the match by a number of monstrously huge aerials thrown from the heart of Weymouth’s defence, but the division one side managed to cope well with this impressive bombardment. Unfortunately the pace of the game started to take its toll during the final ten minutes and mistakes began to slip into Weymouth’s game. Blandford were able to exploit this lack of discipline to score a third goal thanks to a well-placed shot from the top of the D and make certain of their victory.

Man of the Match by Matt Bell
D**K of the Day and Match Report by Harry Goss