Iron too strong for Terras (From Dorset Echo)

Iron too strong for Terras

6:41pm Sunday 6th December 2009 in

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BRAINTREE TOWN 3 WEYMOUTH 2

WEYMOUTH were so close to a memorable second-half comeback at Braintree Town, but were denied a point by two late saves from goalkeeper David Blackmore.

George Purcell’s brace and Sean Marks’ header handed the Essex side a three-goal half-time lead, only for Josh Llewellyn and Jake Reid to fire the Terras back into it.

Matt Groves went closest inside the last 10 minutes but found Blackmore in top form as the Iron’s shot stopper dived at full stretch to his left.

It took just two minutes for the pacey Purcell to open the scoring when he latched on to Ryan Peters’ hopeful volley forward and took advantage of Ryan Harrison’s indecision to toe poke it over the Weymouth goalkeeper and into the net.

Braintree threatened to blow away their visitors, but Harrison made amends for his earlier mistake with two good saves.

First he blocked from Matt Game after the Town midfielder stabbed the static ball out of a puddle and then made a top drawer one-handed save from Purcell.

Marks was denied by the offside flag but did work his way on to the scoresheet in the 21st minute when he rose above everyone on the edge of the six-yard box to connect with Alex Rhodes’ cross and plant a firm header into the roof of the net.

The Iron’s dominance was finally broken after that when Weymouth began to show much better form.

Jordan Rose should have scored but his header from Jamie McGuinness’ cross was too weak and too close to Blackmore.

Reid saw a powerful drive beaten away by Blackmore after Simon Radcliffe and Llewellyn combined to set up the Terras’ top scorer.

Llewellyn smashed just over, only for the home side to go down the other end and extend their lead further when Purcell got the wrong side of the defence again and buried an unstoppable drive beyond Harrison.

Town started the second half in determined fashion and Harrison had to tip over a header, but Weymouth threw themselves a lifeline when Reid smashed a drive against the underside of the bar and Llewellyn followed up to tuck in the rebound.

The Terras continued to dominate possession and territory without threatening Blackmore’s goal, until Reid was tugged back by Lynvall Duncan and tucked away the resulting penalty, sending the home custodian the wrong way with a low placed shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

Reid had to clear away Duncan’s header from in front of his own goal before the visitors launched a late assault in pursuit of an equaliser.

Groves created himself some space on the edge and drilled a low shot towards the bottom right-hand corner, only for Blackmore to make a full-stretch save and claw the ball behind.

The Braintree goalkeeper blocked again and Groves nearly got in for the leveller, but substitute Reece Harris slid in to deny the Terras’ winger that deserved glory in front of the boisterous travelling support.

Braintree: Blackmore, Peters, Jones, Duncan, Goodacre, Bruno (Starkey 67), Mingle, Game, Purcell, Marks (Power 81), Rhodes (Harris 46). Subs not used: Bruce, McDonald.

Terras: Harrison, McGuinness, Slocombe, Frampton, Brice, Allen, Groves, Rose, Llewellyn, Reid, Radcliffe (Dixon 87). Subs not used: Foster, Nicholls, Loader, Byfield.