WEYMOUTH 1

ST NEOTS TOWN 2

WEYMOUTH lost their third league game on the spin as they suffered defeat against St Neots Town in a tame performance at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Jason Matthews made one change to the starting XI that lost at Truro City in midweek, with Lee Sharpe making way for Barry McConnell.

Charlie Holland returned to the bench after recovering from a head injury suffered against Hungerford last Saturday, and Sean Zima replaced Scott Walker as a substitute following the latter’s recurrence of a groin problem.

And it was not long into the clash before Matthews was called on, the keeper producing a superb double-save on three minutes to keep the scores level.

Saints’ Lewis Hilliard, who netted the winner when the visitors won the Red Insure Cup in midweek, had the first chance of the contest when he struck a low drive from the edge of the area.

Matthews parried that one before picking himself up instantly to keep out Matt Nolan’s follow-up effort.

Hilliard then had a second opportunity 10 minutes later. Running on to a neat through ball from Jay Davies, the midfielder dragged his effort wide of the post.

The visitors dominated the opening quarter of an hour and when they took the lead it was no more than they deserved.

Ben Farrell surged forward and found himself in acres of space in the area before drilling the ball past Matthews on the half-volley.

Weymouth’s slow start continued, and they were caught napping on the counter-attack when winger Lorenzo Ferrari skipped away from his man and rifled a shot straight at Matthews, who managed to beat the ball away to safety.

The Terras then tried to respond but Isaac Vassell’s left-footed volley sailed well wide of the mark and striker Stewart Yetton hit a speculative effort straight at Saints’ keeper Nathan Abbey.

As the game progressed, Ferrari continued to cause Wey-mouth a number of problems on the left hand side as he jinked past McConnell and was brought down. The defender was given a stern talking to by referee Adam Nunn.

George Rigg put his first effort of the match into the stands three minutes before half-time as the home fans’ frustration began to show.

Visiting striker Shane Tolley, who was been in blistering form with five goals in his last three league games, then flashed a header just over from Farrell’s precise chip.

Just seconds after the restart, Ferrari was allowed to stroll through on the left-hand side and he struck a venomous effort that went just wide of the Weymouth goal.

Vassell and Yetton then linked up well for the home side to tee up Jacob Jagger-Cane, only for his sliced shot to sail out for a throw-in.

But Weymouth managed to get themselves level on 55 minutes, and it was their talisman Yetton who delivered the goods once more.

The striker neatly turned inside the area to outfox Saints’ skipper Gavin Hoyte, who clumsily stuck out a leg and tripped the Weymouth forward as he spun towards goal.

Referee Nunn showed no hesitation in awarding the home side a penalty.

Yetton picked himself up to take the spot-kick and although Abbey saved his effort, Yetton was the first to the rebound to stroke the ball home.

However, the visitors still looked dangerous and, 10 minutes later, some neat interplay by the front two of Nolan and Tolley carved open the Weymouth defence once more.

Tolley neatly dummied the ball through to his strike-partner Nolan, he flicked a pass back to his team-mate, and the former smashed what proved to be the winning goal under Matthews from 10 yards.

Minutes later, Yetton thought he had netted a second equaliser when he bundled the ball in following a frantic goalmouth scramble.

On this occasion, the Trowbridge official ruled the goal out for a foul in the area, much to the hosts’ annoyance.

Vassell then burst into the box and fizzed a shot narrowly wide with Abbey well beaten, but the Terras failed to break down the visitors again, leaving them in 11th position in the Southern Premier League table.

Terras: Matthews 8, McConnell 5, Green 6, Colwell 6, Hutchings 6, Richards 7, Kelly 5 (M Ford 60, 6), Jagger-Cane 6, Yetton 7, Rigg 5, Vassell 7. Subs not used: Poole, Zima, M Walker, Holland.

St Neots: Abbey, Spence, Adjei, Farrell, Frater, Hoyte, Hilliard, Davies (Wilson 88), Nolan (B Ford 80), Tolley, Ferrari (Woolley 54). Subs not used: Thomas, Swan.

Bookings: Terras – None

St Neots – Hoyte (foul 54)

Referee: Adam Nunn (Trowbridge)

Attendance: 546