WEYMOUTH 0

YATELEY 4

WEYMOUTH hosted mid-table Yateley in what turned out to be a disappointing day for the Seasiders.

The home side were back in action after the postponement of last week’s fixture against City of Portsmouth, while Joe Foot, recalled to arms by captain Steve Membury, showed off the odd classy manoeuvre – which served as a reminder of more profitable seasons gone before.

It was Yateley that managed to find their stride ahead of the hosts.

Pressure was building on the Weymouth goal with waves of attacks survived though some pacey sweeping from keeper David Civil, last-ditch line clearances via David Beaudro’s swift stick work, and, on one occasion, a planted foot that was missed by the match officials.

The pressure and poor playing surface eventually caused a crack in the Weymouth defence when a miss-hit pass from Roly Gill found its way to the Yateley front line who took full advantage slotting the ball into the goal from a few metres out.

Before half-time, the Weymouth goal was breached twice more, another turnover of possession in their own 25 ended in the same fashion as the first, and lacklustre marking from the Weymouth midfield of Aaron Wilkinson, Membury and Michael Westlake led to an overload in the D allowing a simple tap-in to make it 3-0.

Hope can be a fragile commodity and with Weymouth’s performance, hope for any points from the fixture was all but lost.

Before the half was out, the newly returned Foot gave a glimmer of hope with some tenacious running, hassling the Yateley defenders and catching on to several long balls from centre-back Giles Broadhead, one of which, Foot struck while moving at pace only to see it blaze agonisingly over the crossbar.

Infinitely more positive and attacking than in the first 35 minutes, Weymouth rallied and found themselves dictating the play for the first time in the match in the second period.

Direct running from international winger Florian Ziegenbalg supported by improved passing from Wilkinson and Westlake gave Weymouth possession in the Yateley D but the Seasiders struggled to convert.

Weymouth’s Simon Harvey was shown a green card for dissent to further rock the hosts.

The final goal came following another strange period of play, the match officials decided to award Yateley possession of the ball following another outburst from Harvey.

Despite playing with the advantage and Yateley having a shot on target saved, the ball went back to the Yateley 16, possession was not returned to Weymouth and the subsequent passage of play found the ball hitting the home backboard to make it 4-0.

If silence is golden then continual talking to the umpires is red as Harvey found out when the game ended in acrimony with suggestions from the umpire that Harvey had used inoperative language.

This adds to Weymouth woes as a 16-day ban accompanies the red card meaning that yet another important player is sidelined along with Patrick May.

The result sees Weymouth sitting one place above the relegation places, with a tough home fixture against second-placed Southampton University this week.

Player of the match: Michael Westlake