WESTON-SUPER-MARE 3 MAGPIES 0

THE Magpies certainly saw out 2013 with a bang at the Wood-spring Stadium in Weston-super-Mare on Saturday – just not quite the way they would have liked to.

Their hopes of going into the new year on a high took a severe nosedive during the second half against the Seasiders with no fewer than three players being shown red cards.

And with Ashley Kington and Syd Camper adding to a first-half strike from Bradley Ash, Dorchester’s aims of starting 2014 off the foot of the Skrill South table were well and truly dashed.

Steve Walker’s dismissal aside, Magpies’ boss Phil Simkin was far from happy with the match officials and the behaviour of the opposition, which he feels con-tributed to Clive Makoni and skipper Mark Jermyn heading for early baths.

Simkin felt his side were on top early in the second period as they tried to cancel out Ash’s opening goal on 21 minutes.

But when Makoni, making his full debut, and then Jermyn, returning to the team following a one-match ban, were sent off for second bookable offences – the latter after Kington had made it
2-0 – their chances of a comeback were ended.

To rub salt into the wound, Camper added a third goal and Walker was rightly given a straight red for a challenge his manager described as one of the “most horrendous” he had seen.

While condemning the defender, Simkin was convinced Makoni and Jermyn were more than unlucky to suffer the same fate as their team-mate.

“This season has been a nightmare for us and when you’re down the bottom you don’t seem to get the luck,” he said.

“Steve fully deserved his red card as it was a really bad tackle, but I thought the other two were very unlucky.

“Clive went in for a 50-50 ball with the keeper and got a second yellow and the same happened to Jem when he tried to win the ball from one of their players.

“It was a very disappointing performance from all the officials involved and if I say anything else I will probably end up in trouble with the FA. Their players were falling to the floor and screaming like girls – they should have been awarded Equity (acting union) cards.”

Simkin made two changes to the side that had lost to Eastleigh on Boxing Day with Jermyn rep-lacing the suspended Nick Crittenden and Makoni starting up front.

That meant Josh Tennant dropped to the bench and Simkin opted to play Ryan Case, usually
a defender, in a more attacking role.

Sam Lanahan went to right-back and Jake Smeeton showed his versatility by teaming up with Jamie Gleeson in the centre of midfield.

But it was the home side who took the lead in rather fortuitous circumstances at the end of the first quarter.

Weston were in the ascendancy when a ball into the Dorchester box took several deflections before finding Ash’s head.

The Magpies held out until half-time and Case missed a great chance to equalise after the break.
That proved costly as Kington netted in between second yellow cards for Makoni and Jermyn, and then substitute Camper put the result beyond doubt.

Simkin, though, was relatively pleased with how things were going up until the hour mark.
He added: “They put us under a lot of pressure in the first half but we got back into the game after they scored.

“I played Ryan up with Clive and it worked. Ryan is an honest lad with a lot of ability and he did well.

“Clive also played well and was a constant threat with his pace. I feel sorry for him that his full debut had to end the way it did.

“Fraser Colmer gave another good performance at left-back and I’ve been really pleased with him since he has come in.”

Weston: Irish, Diallo, Walker, Knowles, Laird, Gregson, Grubb, Ash, Hemmings, Kington, Fiddes. Subs: Brown, McGregor, Camper, Slocombe, Kirk.

Magpies: Walker-Harris, Lanahan, Colmer, Jermyn, Walker, Smeeton, Twyford, Gleeson, Case, Makoni, Wakefield. Subs: Way, Munday, Rolls, Godfrey, Tennant.

Attendance: 232