Winless run goes on for Hicks’ men (From Dorset Echo)

Winless run goes on for Hicks’ men

8:30am Thursday 10th January 2013 in Sport By Adam Summers

Weymouth Sports 0 Westland Sports 1

WEYMOUTH Sports saw their winless streak stretched to five games in the Dorset Senior League following a narrow defeat at Cranford Avenue.

The hosts were poor in the first half and deserved to go behind to a strike from Leo Hayward but they got their act together after the break and were perhaps a little unfortunate not to claim a share of the spoils.

Joint-boss Chris Hicks said: “In the first half we played like a team that had just had five weeks off for Christmas.

“Having not played for that length of time it was always going to be tough but despite our warnings beforehand we were off the pace from the start and not really sharp enough.

“That was very disappointing and Westland Sports took advantage by catching one of our lads in possession and applying a really good finish from 30 yards, which put them ahead at the break.

“We knew we had to lift our game and in the second half we were a bit sharper and enjoyed a lot more possession but once again we lacked the cutting edge to get that goal.

“Andy Cleal and Ben Thomas both went close with headers, following fine crosses from Russ Green, and Sam Culpin sent a couple of dangerous corners right across the six-yard box but unfortunately we just couldn’t put the ball away.

“With a difficult run of fixtures coming up it was a disappointing result but all we can do now is just dig in and try and turn it around.

“We certainly need to start picking up some points soon otherwise we could find ourselves in a lot of trouble.”

Hicks’ men now lie third-bottom with just 10 points from 12 outings and with second-bottom Okeford United holding four games in hand on them, a tough second half of the season appears to be on the cards.

To make matters worse for Wey-mouth Sports, their next three games will see them experience tricky encounters at Witchamp-ton United and Kingston Lacy before returning home for an even tougher clash against runaway leaders Mere Town.

Weymouth Sports: Parkes, Hicks, Schofield (Rogers 80), Bessant, Taylor, Thomas (Miles-Bell 70), W Sonner, Dixon, Green (M Sonner 60), Culpin, Cleal.