WEYMOUTH 1 (Poole 90)

BRAINTREE TOWN 2 (Paine 5, Marks 14)

THE Terras succumbed to two early goals in the FA Cup this afternoon despite mounting a spirited rally in the closing stages.

Sam Poole halved the deficit to give Weymouth some late hope but prior to that Braintree always looked in control and at the end thoroughly deserved their victory.

Brendon King kept faith with the same starting XI that secured a 1-0 win over Bridgwater Town in the FA Trophy the previous weekend.

Ashley Wells returned from suspension and took up a seat on the bench, which also included the likes of Luke Winsper, Jamie Symes, Matt Groves and Mark Ford. Talented reserve-teamers Jordan Tewkesbury and Lee Sharpe made up the seven.

Having lost just one of their last eight in the Conference, Braintree were clearly in fine form ahead of kick-off but it was the hosts that arguably made the brighter start.

In the opening exchanges the Terras enjoyed plenty of possession in the visitors’ half and were looking confident until a sucker punch arrived on five minutes.

Caught standing off their opponents, the home side allowed a deep cross to arrive in the box, and when the ball was popped back to Matt Paine, he drove a fine shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, giving keeper Jason Matthews no chance.

That seemed a little harsh on the Terras and they immediately tried to make amends with Luke Burbidge dragging an effort wide from 18 yards.

Matthews was then fortunate to get away with fumbling an effort from Dan Holman before a stunning cross from Barry McConnell set up another chance for Burbidge, whose effort on the slide went straight at Nathan McDonald.

In possession the Terras were looking decent but defensively they were struggling to contain the Iron, and after Kenny Davies had struck the bar with a cross, the away side made it 2-0 on 14 minutes.

James Mulley supplied the cross from the left and there was Sean Marks to turn in a wonderful header to the frustration of the hosts.

Braintree’s extra quality was there for all to see but on the balance of play their lead was still slightly flattering.

That second goal certainly took the wind out of the home side though, and the next 25 minutes went flat as the Iron stepped off the gas a little and comfortably snuffed out Weymouth’s advances.

The Conference outfit looked very well organised and were more than happy to let the hosts play in front of them.

The Terras were clearly lacking in ideas and in the last five minutes of the half the visitors almost grabbed a third.

Holman fired wide after good hold-up play from Marks and just prior to the break those two combined again to go even closer.

This time Holman’s deflected strike was pushed on to a post by Matthews, who then did superbly to readjust to block out Marks’ rebound to the relief of the Terras’ faithful.

After the break Weymouth continued to plug away but the visitors remained in control, causing King into a change on the hour with striker Mark Ford replacing McConnell.

As a result, Burbidge moved to right wing-back but the switch did little to shift the momentum with the home strikers starved of any quality service.

Braintree looked comfortable and on 77 minutes they almost killed the tie with the first meaningful effort of the half.

Davis played in Mulley on the left but he could only strike the outside of a post after breaking into the box and drawing out Matthews.

Yetton then sent a speculative effort wide from 25 yards before another change by the Terras saw Wells come on for Clay and defender Nathan Walker move up front.

It was time for Weymouth to throw caution to the wind and in the 90th minute they pulled one back.

Scott Walker’s corner caused hesitancy in the Braintree box and there was Poole to throw his side a late lifeline with a header from eight yards.

Suddenly the visitors looked vulnerable for the first time in the game as the Terras began to pump balls into the box and rattle their opponents’ nerves.

However, Braintree just managed to hold on with the best chance of an equaliser falling to Ford, who saw his tame effort saved comfortably by McDonald deep into added time.

Terras: Matthews, McConnell (Ford 60), M Walker, Clay (Wells 82), N Walker, Poole, Burbidge, Allen, Yetton, Joyce, S Walker. Subs not used: Tewkesbury, Sharpe, Winsper, Symes, Groves.

Braintree: McDonald, Peters, Isaac, Paine, Davis, Habergham (Carney 22), Marks, Holman (Cox 78), Massey, Wells, Mulley. Subs not used: Sparkes, Daley, Enver-Marum, Hamann, Griffiths.

Bookings – Terras: Clay (foul 55), Poole (foul 69).

Braintree: None.

Referee: Adam Hopkins (Plymouth) Attendance: 775