Foiled by Feeney

9:34am Wednesday 3rd September 2008

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SALISBURY CITY 1 Feeney 55 WEYMOUTH 0 WEYMOUTH suffered their second successive Blue Square Premier away defeat when they went down at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium last night.

John Hollins was forced to make two changes to his starting line-up for the local derby in Wiltshire.

Adam Bygrave replaced the suspended Cameron Mawer and James Coutts was brought in for Kevin Sandwith whose wife was due to have a baby.

A heavy storm shortly before the kick off ensured that the playing surface was slick as the visitors kicked off.

Salisbury opened well when Jonathan Bass combined with Matthew Tubbs to present Andrew Sandell with a good opportunity, but Terras' keeper Richard Barnard easily held the shot.

Shortly afterwards Tubbs fired well over the bar, but there was little else in the opening exchanges for either set of supporters to cheer about as the game became a midfield battle.

Ryan Williams had the Terras' first chance in the 13th minute but his attempt was deflected wide, whilst Sandell made a mess of his header when he was in a good position.

Barnard gave the visitors a fright when he dropped Aaron Cook's 31st minute free-kick, but Santos Gaia was on hand to clear.

Williams collected the clearance and sped down the right flank before firing a great cross across the area which Stuart Beavon just failed to reach.

From the resulting goal kick Salisbury broke and Liam Feeney saw a similar cross suffer the same fate.

Before the break Stephen Reed hit a free-kick into the home side's defensive wall and Anton Robinson shot over from 25 yards out.

Weymouth looked to start the second half the better side as Coutts fired a cross from Michael Malcolm over the crossbar and James Bittner denied Beavon with a brave save at the Weymouth striker's feet.

It was City who opened the scoring on 55 minutes when Weymouth failed to deal with Scott Bartlett's long throw from the right, Tubbs and Wayne Turk both saw their efforts cleared before the loose ball fell to Feeney who fired home through a crowd of players.

Following this reverse Wey-mouth put the home side under a lot of pressure, Robinson sending a 30-yard effort narrowly wide and Williams following suit with a snapshot on the turn.

Coutts was denied by Matthew Robinson's last-ditch tackle and then saw his flicked header from Williams' cross fly just past an upright.

Salisbury were looking dangerous on the break, as the Terras pressed forward, and Charlie Griffin should have made more of his far post header after Feeney had produced a fine cross.

In the dying minutes Michael Fowler and Sandell combined well before the former fired his shot from distance wide and Bartlett wasted a clear opportunity when he hit his effort into the side-netting.

Weymouth can feel slightly unlucky not to have picked up the point that their second half performance deserved, but it was the failure to take the chances that came their way that cost them in the end.