SHAFTESBURY 3 WEYMOUTH RESERVES 2

THE Terras saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end in disappointing fashion at Cockrams.

High on confidence following their recent win over reigning champions Portland United, Weymouth started the game superbly but failed to make the most of their dominance and ended up getting caught on the break when the Rockies netted twice in four minutes.

Sean Zima then pulled one back to take his tally for the season to six in six games, but as the Terras pushed for an equaliser in the second half they conceded again with just 10 minutes remaining.

Determined to get something from the game the visitors continued to pile on the pressure but despite Oscar Preece cutting the deficit back down to one in the 89th minute, Shaftesbury managed to hold on.

Weymouth reserve-team manager Jake Richmond told Echosport: “We absolutely dominated them in the first 20 minutes, so much so they couldn’t get out of their half, but we missed a couple of gilt-edged chances and they ended up hitting us on the break to go 1-0 up.

“They then got another one four minutes later and after that a couple of our lads dropped their heads.

“We seem to always struggle to defend the big, long ball pumped up the field and to be honest I don’t know why that is.

“Our midfielders also failed to track their runners for the first goal and in the end it was just a bit frustrating.

“We got back to 2-1 but then with 10 minutes to go they grabbed a third after what I thought had been a foul on our keeper.

“It looked like Jordan Tewkesbury had received a shove when attempting to collect the ball but it wasn’t given and they ended up scoring at the second attempt.

“Despite that though, we continued to push forward and after Oscar pulled another one back we were very unfortunate not to grab a late equaliser.

“It was one of those where we performed well in patches but not throughout the whole 90 minutes.

“Having said that, I still felt we deserved to come away with something.”

Richmond also had a message for one or two of his players. He added: “Unfortunately we have a couple of midfielders at the minute who are good when things are going well but tend to hide when they are not.

“I am after characters at the end of the day that don’t mind digging in and battling and I am just a little concerned that one or two of the youngsters are a bit fragile at the moment.”

The defeat has seen the Terras drop to sixth in the Bespoke Teamwear Dorset Premier League where they lie five points off the top with a game in hand.

Their next clash will see them host Holt United at the Bob Lucas Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

Terras: Tewkesbury, Butcher, Brown, Anstey, Sharpe, Frost (Ford 57), Smith (Chatterton 46), Preece, Harvey, McClements (Jackson 75), Zima.