Weymouth lay siege to travelling Trojans.

At the business end of the season, Weymouth hosted Trojans hockey club in what was not only a must win game but also crucial preparation for what are likely to be the two biggest games of the season. The Seasiders will next week travel to third placed Basingstoke and then host first placed Romsey in a bid to ensure promotion and push for the league title. Skipper Dan Dukes was only too aware of the need for his team to put in performance good enough to beat the best that the league has to offer.

The match got underway at a high tempo and the home team quickly established their dominance. Veteran 25 year old Patrick May immediately broke the deadlock with his 50th of the season, a confident reverse hit that helped to set the tempo for the remainder of the game in which Weymouth continued to press the visitors.

Joe Foot was then denied after finding the net. The ball was deemed to be lifted dangerously, although off of a Trojan stick, and the umpire awarded a free hit to the defending side. This was much to the objection of the hosts who enthusiastically appealed for advantage to have been played.

Weymouth’s alleged injustice was soon made redundant when Sam Drewitt shot high and hard at the Trojan goalie’s helmet only for his younger brother Sam Drewitt to tap in to double the lead. May then doubled his tally with another reverse hit served up by Matt Bell.

The first half had the desired effect in terms of the score line and the general passage of play, but Weymouth’s lack of discipline caused a green card to be issued to the entire squad. Persistent objection to umpiring decisions lead to the team warning, in particular due to an incident between May and an opposition player. A war of words between the two men eventually gave way to tough love as bizarrely the Trojan blew May a kiss, presumably opting out of the routine head butt.

The incident came back to haunt May in the second half. The Weymouth forward continued to spurn the Trojan’s advances and earned himself a yellow card for unsporting conduct towards the unwavering affection of his opposite number.

When May returned from the sin bin the onslaught continued. A well selected lateral pass from Andy Stiles found the Trojan’s nemesis who easily converted. Sam Drewitt made sure it wasn’t only the Patrick May show when he got on the end of a reverse hit across goal to tap in at the back post. Unfortunately there were no kisses for Drewitt though.

A beautifully worked team goal followed in which Mike Westlake cleared the ball wide out of defence to Simon Harvey at right back who in turn shipped the ball up the line to Sam Drewitt. Drewitt laid the ball off for Andy Stiles who, with a brilliant first time strike, set up May for his fourth of the day.

With five minutes to go and the win sealed for Weymouth, right back and qualified umpire Simon Harvey took the opportunity to take issue with several umpiring decisions that began to put unwanted pressure on the Weymouth back four. Already on a team warning, Harvey earned himself a trip to the sin bin for the remainder of the game.

The sin bin turned out to be the place to be as it gave a perfect view of the final Weymouth goal. This time attacking down the left, some impressive linking play between Wayne Goff, Luke Drewitt and Matthew Lawes allowed Lawes to break a long goal drought as he fired low and hard into the corner of the goal.

Discipline issues aside, Weymouth’s performance, both attacking and in keeping a clean sheet, made skipper Dukes optimistic about the team’s chances for the final games of the season. Dukes commented: “I have full confidence that the team will pull through and win the title. Unfortunately we are missing Simon Harvey, one of our stronger players, over the next few weeks, but due to the strength in depth of the side I remain sure of gaining all nine points on offer.”

Man of the match – Matthew Lawes

D**k of the day – Simon Harvey

Green cards – Dan Dukes, Wayne Goff, Matt Underhill, Mike Westlake, Simon Harvey, Sam Drewitt, Matt Bell, Matt Lawes, Luke Drewitt, Andy Stiles, Pat May, Joe Foot

Yellow cards – Patrick May, Simon Harvey

Match report by Simon Harvey