BLANDFORD UTD 1 WEYMOUTH RES 2

SUBSTITUTE Mark Ford held his nerve to score an injury-time winner from the penalty spot for Weymouth against former club Blandford on Saturday.

The Dorset Premier League match was the first back in Terras colours for Ford after rejoining the Bob Lucas Stadium outfit last week having left Salisbury.

Sanchez Baker gave the visitors a 19th-minute lead only for Ford’s brother Paul to equalise just before the break.

But, with the full-time whistle approaching, Weymouth were given the chance to claim a fifth win of the campaign and Matt Head’s replacement made no mistake.

And like match-winner Ford, Terras boss Bradley Asagba was also able to celebrate a victory over a former employer – Asagba led the Royals to 13th place last term.

“Blandford is a tough place to go and they have carried on off the back of the strong finish they had last season,” he said.

“A lot of teams are aiming to be in that top six in the league but they will find it hard when they go there.

“I think a few players wanted to prove a point to me that I maybe didn’t play them as much as they wanted me to when I was there, so there was that extra motivation.”

He went on to add: “From our point of view, the number of chances we let them have was a bit worrying.

“I don’t think anyone has opened us up this season as much as they did.

“We took the lead with our third chance of the game, but it was the first time we created anything of real quality.

“Sanchez finished off a team move to make it 1-0, then we gave the ball away just before half-time and Paul Ford made it 1-1.

“We created another good chance in the dying embers of the game. The ball was played through to Fordy, he was brought down by a defender in the box, and then scored the penalty.

“It was his first game back for us and he enjoyed celebrating his goal on his return to Blandford.”

Weymouth maintained third position in the league and remain the only unbeaten side in the league.

Although pleased to see his side where they are, Asagba can’t help but think what might have been.

He added: “It’s pleasing to be one point off the top but it’s frustrating that the thing keeping us in third is the two points we dropped at home to Sherborne – we should never have dropped those points.

“But when you think how many new players we’ve got in the squad, it’s nice that we are unbeaten while the players are still gelling.”

Terras: Higgins, Carlile, Michie, Anstey, Butcher, Beals, Buse (Bergin), Cullingford, Head (Ford), Baker, Jevon (Zima)