11:06am Sunday 31st January 2010
By Ky Capel
WESTON-S-MARE 0
Dorchester 2 Emati-Emati 6, Devlin 50
DORCHESTER Town opened up a six-point gap between themselves and the bottom three courtesy of a crucial win at relegation rivals Weston-super-Mare.
Headed efforts in either half from Jules Emati-Emati and Steve Devlin – the former scoring his first goal for the county town side – gave the visitors a deserved victory at the Woodspring Stadium.
The triumph was Dorchester’s first since December 5, and their first on the road in almost three months.
Caretaker-manager Ashley Vickers made two changes following the midweek draw with Lewes, replacing himself with skipper Kevin Hill – making his first start since October – and choosing Emati-Emati in favour of Matt Groves.
And the latter switch paid immediate dividends as Emati-Emati put the Magpies in front inside six minutes.
Dorchester’s first free-kick of the afternoon was taken quickly by James Coutts and Mark Jermyn was given a free reign down the left.
The midfielder aimed for the far post and found an unmarked Emati-Emati who headed the visitors in front.
However, the Magpies’ early pressure wilted somewhat while their hosts stepped up a gear.
First an effort from Ben Cleverley was deflected wide for a corner before an up-in-the-air clearance from Nick Crittenden put the county town defence under unwanted pressure.
Keeper Simon Evans failed to get enough power on his attempted punch but got down well to block Cleverley’s effort with centre-half Clayton Fortune putting the loose ball over the top.
Jake Smeeton was forced off at the midway stage with ankle injury and almost immediately Jermaine Clarke enjoyed a clear run at Evans’ goal. Luckily for the visitors, the Seagulls’ striker fired wide.
The same man did better with his next opportunity – forcing an excellent save from Evans with a far post header.
Having withstood the home pressure for some 20 minutes, the Magpies started to make inroads once again.
Ryan Moss missed a glaring opportunity, but was spared any embarrassment by the linesman’s flag, while a combination of post and keeper Kevin Sawyer denied Crittenden.
Moss and opposing forward Clarke both headed off target as the first half drew to a close.
Having started the first half with a bang, the Magpies repeated the trick as the second period got underway.
Another quickly taken free-kick was the catalyst as Moss breezed past Fortune and clipped in a cross which Devlin steered into the bottom corner.
Weston threw on former Terra Josh Klein-Davies and another man with Weymouth connections, Dayle Grubb, in an attempt to rescue the game.
But Dorchester, buoyed by their 2-0 advantage and the extremely vocal visiting support, enjoyed a fairly comfortable ride until a late rally from the hosts.
A 12-yard drive from Cleverley and a low angled effort from Grubb both forced good stops from Evans, before Devlin cleared in front of goal after a Richard Evans corner caused havoc in the six-yard area.
Simon Evans then did well to get the faintest of touches on Klein-Davies’ shot from distance.
Dorchester held on and saw out the final few minutes of the match to record three vital points and grab a march on their rivals in the race for survival.
Weston-s-M: Sawyer, Green, Parrinello (Dayle Grubb 61), Bartlett, Rand, Fortune (T Evans 61), Dean Grubb, Cleverley, Joyce (Klein-Davies 61), Clarke, R Evans. Subs not used: Mullings, Ford.
Dorchester: Evans, Critchell, Smeeton (Martin 22), Jermyn, Walker, K Hill (Bowles 86), Crittenden, Coutts, Moss, Emati-Emati (Charles 76), Devlin. Subs not used: Groves, Nodwell.
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