BOURNEMOUTH 3 WEYMOUTH 5

WEYMOUTH travelled to rivals Bournemouth last Saturday and earned their fourth consecutive win.

Conditions were difficult with heavy showers and squally winds, but both sides started at a frantic pace. The Seasiders were without centre-back Roland Gill but utility man Michael Westlake was on hand to fill the position to good effect.

It was Weymouth who made the first breakthrough with a fortunate deflection from Simon Harvey presenting Luke Drewitt with the chance to forehand smash the ball home.

However, the bright start quickly fizzled out with Weymouth keeper David Civil receiving a green card for speaking his mind.

He was to redeem himself shortly after returning to the action, with a stunning tip-over from a Bournemouth strike.

Credit goes to David Beaudro who took on ‘kicking back’ responsibilities for the two minutes in place of the suspended Civil.

The following spell of the game did eventually lead to an equaliser, with a well-worked passing penalty corner routine from the hosts managing to breach the Weymouth defence.

In response, the Seasiders went back on the offensive, and a reverse stick strike across the goal from Matt Underhill was tapped in neatly at the back post by Patrick May.

Unfortunately there was one more twist in the first half, with Bournemouth handed a penalty stroke for a stick challenge in front of goal by Westlake. This was converted to leave things tightly levelled at 2-2 going into the break.

After the interval, the visitors maintained their high intensity and were rewarded with a stunning goal from man of the match Dan Bowles.

Matt Underhill took a quick free-hit, which was played to Bowles who was free to finish an excellent move with a diving deflection from a narrow angle.

Once again, Bournemouth pegged the score back with another well-worked penalty corner before the Seasiders finally took the game out of their reach.

The fourth came courtesy of the quick reactions of Patrick May who intercepted a defensive pass to play in Drewitt, who swept the ball home.

This was followed by a fifth when Andrew Styles’ shot was deflected in by May, who did well to control a back-handed finish.

The win sees Weymouth maintain their position at second in the league, just a point ahead of Gillingham. This Saturday is a tricky home game against Aldershot, where the Seasiders will look to continue their recent good form.

Man of the match: Dan Bowles