Winchester 0-4 Weymouth

Winchester 0-4 Weymouth

With a convincing win away at Winchester, Weymouth reached a season best league position of 4th to go into the Christmas break. Winchester began the day 4th in the league with Weymouth just below in 5th. As well as having the home advantage, Winchester had also beaten Bournemouth 9-0 in the preceding game and would have been confident in taking three points from their final game of the year. But without a win in their last two games, Weymouth took full advantage of their opportunity to finish their year on a high, producing a team performance based on hard work and consistency throughout.

Weymouth called upon David Eames from the Second XI who produced a man of the match performance at right back, not looking at all out of place alongside his experienced teammates. Captain Simon Harvey and midfielder Daniel Bowles continued to fill the centre back positions, awaiting the return of Michael Westlake from injury and Matthew Underhill from Australia.

The hosts were by far the more dangerous of the two teams within the early stages of the game. They pressed high and forced errors from the visitors but each chance on goal, including several penalty corners, was kept out by the resilient Weymouth defence.

Weymouth then turned the tide on Winchester and began to take the lion share of possession. Soon the forward line, assisted by the midfield, began to trouble the opposition defence and eventually the deadlock was broken by Christopher Fry. Eames started the attack down the right and Patrick May cut back to Samuel Drewitt at the top of the circle. Drewitt played the ball to the left post and Fry, in typical fashion for the young forward, was on hand to bundle the ball over line, under pressure from the Winchester goalkeeper.

The second goal came soon before half time from a penalty flick won by Andrew Stiles. May had drawn the keeper away from goal and cut back to Stiles, but Stiles’s shot was blocked by the body of a defender resulting in the flick. Steven Membury stepped up to the spot and scored Weymouth’s first flick of the season, having missed three previously.

Weymouth came out of the blocks fastest in the second half and continued to probe the Winchester defence looking for further goals. The hosts weren’t without their own chances, however, and could have easily got on the score sheet if it weren’t for the efforts of the Seasiders’ keeper David Civil who produced several good stops and charged down a few dangerous loose balls.

The game was killed off midway through the second half with two goals in quick succession from two Weymouth penalty corners. May scored with a drag flick through the keeper’s legs and minutes later assisted Harvey by returning the ball to the left post where the skipper swept in.

Winchester piled on some late pressure and ended the game with a penalty corner, but the Seasiders held on for their first clean sheet of the season. Captain Harvey applauded his team’s efforts, recognising that for the past few weeks, inadequate numbers of substitutes due to injuries in the squad had consistently tested his team’s fitness. He was again thankful to his midfield trio of Matthew Lawes, Samuel Drewitt and Steven Membury who again ran themselves ragged for 70 minutes.

Weymouth have two friendlies in January before hosting Bournemouth in their first league game of 2015. The Seasiders lost to Bournemouth in the opening game of the season in a game fraught with controversies, so will have more reasons to start the year with a win.

Goals: Fry, Membury (pen), May, Harvey

Man of the Match: David Eames