12:19am Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Echo Reporter
HAMPTON & RICHMOND 1 Dorchester TOWN 2
DEBUTANT Josh Llewellyn experienced a night of mixed emotions as 10-man Dorchester Town recorded their 10th victory in Blue Square South.
Llewellyn, who only joined the Magpies on Monday after being released by rivals Weymouth in a bid to cut costs, nodded the visitors in front inside the first quarter of an hour at the Beveree Stadium.
However, his opening night in county town colours drew to a premature close as a hamstring injury forced him off only 11 minutes later.
Another man made to take an early bath was the ex-Terra’s replacement – leading marksman Matt Groves. The 11-goal hit man threw an elbow in a 50-50 tussle in the second half and was sent off as a result.
Dorchester, who were 2-0 up at the time following a 30th-minute goal from Ryan Moss, were then pegged back soon after as Ian Hodges headed home.
But the visitors hung on for their first away win since the end of January.
Boss Ashley Vickers made four changes to the side that lost 2-1 at St Albans a week earlier.
Llewellyn replaced Groves in attack, Kyle Critchell returned at left-back, at the expense of Neil Martin, while Ryan Hill and James Coutts put their recent illness behind them to start ahead of Warren Byerley and Jamie Gleeson.
Dorchester’s other new signing Scott Brice, who also left the Terras at the weekend, was named among the substitutes.
Hampton & Richmond started the brighter of the two sides, and even had an effort chalked off for an apparent offside, but it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Llewellyn made a dream start to his Dorchester Town career by heading in, via the underside of the crossbar, an excellent cross from Mark Jermyn.
The dream soon turned into a nightmare for Llewellyn as he pulled up with a hamstring problem shortly after, handing an early opportunity to fellow forward Groves.
Having missed a host of chances in the first half at St Albans, the Magpies appeared to find their killer instinct last night, taking a 2-0 lead with only their second opportunity of the match.
Jermyn provided the cross once more with Ryan Moss flicking a fine header past home keeper Kieron Drake on the half-hour for his ninth of the season.
The Beavers looked to exert their physical presence on proceedings but the Magpies, enjoying the comfort of a two-goal advantage, were having none of it.
And the away side were denied a third goal shortly before the break when Moss put the ball in the net but was adjudged to have fouled Drake in the process.
After a fairly low-key start to the second period, the game took a turn for the worse for Dorchester as Groves saw red just 26 minutes after coming on.
The Magpies’ top scorer was dismissed for an apparent elbow near the corner flag.
The match was threatening to boil over with Nathan Walker picking up a yellow soon after and as the away side lost their cool momentarily, they surrendered their two-goal cushion in the 59th minute.
Hodges bagged the third headed goal of the night as he latched on to a free-kick that was conceded by visiting skipper Kevin Hill.
Centre-back Brice made his debut for the Magpies, replacing midfielder Coutts, as Vickers looked to shore things up at the back.
The county town side were now struggling to get beyond the half-way line as the Beavers went in search of an equaliser.
But Dorchester held firm, despite their advantage, and even managed to threaten on the break.
One such counter-attack saw Nick Crittenden upended in the Hampton box but the referee ignored calls for a penalty.
It did not matter in the end as the Magpies saw out the remaining minutes to climb up to 15th in the Blue Square South table.
Hampton & R: Drake, Simmonds (Collier 72), Tanner, Jeffrey, Inman (Beckford 63), Wells, Tarpey, Dundas, Hodges, Yaku (Lake 46), Matthews. Subs not used: Robinson, Kanjor.
Magpies: Coward, R Hill, Critchell, Jermyn, Walker, K Hill, Crittenden, Coutts (Brice 63), Moss (Byerley 85), Llewellyn (Groves 25), Devlin. Subs not used: Gleeson, Bowles.
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