WINCHESTER 0 WEYMOUTH 4

WEYMOUTH secured a fine victory at Winchester to go into the Christmas break in a season-best league position of fourth.

The hosts began the day in fourth spot with Weymouth just below in fifth.

As well as having home advantage, Winchester had also beaten Bournemouth 9-0 in their previous game and would have been confident in taking three points from their final fixture of the year. However, without a win in their last two games, Weymouth took full advantage of their opportunity to finish the year on a high, producing a team performance based on hard work and consistency throughout.

The Seasiders called on David Eames from the second XI and he produced a man-of-the-match performance at right-back, not looking at all out of place alongside his experienced team-mates. Captain Simon Harvey and midfielder Daniel Bowles continued to fill the centre-back positions while they await the return of Michael Westlake from injury and Matthew Underhill from Australia.

The hosts were by far the more dangerous of the two teams in 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’s share of possession. Soon the forward line, assisted by the midfield, began to trouble the opposition defence the deadlock was eventually broken by Christopher Fry.

Eames started the attack down the right and Patrick May cut the ball 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 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 his shot was blocked by the body of a defender which resulted 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 the fastest in the second half and continued to probe the Winchester defence as they looked for more goals.

The hosts weren’t without their own chances, however, and could have easily got on the scoresheet if it wasn’t for the efforts of Seasiders’ keeper David Civil .

He 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 a couple of 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 an inadequate number of substitutes due to injuries had consistently tested his side’s fitness. He was again thankful to his midfield trio of Matthew Lawes, Drewitt and 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 an encounter fraught with controversies, so they will have more reason to start the year with a win.

Man of the Match: David Eames