ST ALBANS CITY 3

Jeffers 19, 33, Weiss 79

WEYMOUTH 2

Willson 59, Bearwish 88

WEYMOUTH’S defensive frailties were again exposed as their Vanarama National League South woes continued with a 3-2 loss at St Albans City.

Shaun Jeffers’ first-half double punished two mistakes but a debut goal for Brendan Willson got Weymouth back in it on 59 minutes.

Mitchell Weiss benefitted from more slack defending to make it 3-1 but even after Tom Bearwish’s late goal Weymouth did not look like notching an equaliser as the Saints held on.

Weymouth are now 12 points off safety, with other teams in the relegation zone picking up results.

Weymouth manager Bobby Wilkinson made four changes to the side that began the 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon at the weekend.

READ MORE: St Albans City 3-2 Weymouth - how it happened

Ben Gerring and Cameron Murray returned to the starting line-up, while there were debuts for new signings and defenders Ed James and Willson.

Willson is on loan from Eastleigh and signed his first pro contract with the Spitfires in March.

He has experience with Wimborne and Bashley and last season made four appearances in the National League under boss Lee Bradbury.

On the bench, under-23s Matty Burrows and Frankie Monk were not in the squad, with Jason Matthews and Tyler Forbes also omitted.

Josh Oyinsan kept his place along with Hari McCoy, with centre-backs Dan Matsuzaka and Nathan Carlyle plus Saturday's goal hero Ahkeem Rose all taking seats in the dugout.

Weymouth wore poppies on their blue third kit ahead of Remembrance Sunday, and before play those at the stadium observed an impeccable minute’s silence, only pierced by a faultless rendition of The Last Post.

When play began, Weymouth were given an early warning by Saints’ top scorer Jeffers when he unleashed a shot from distance at Zaki Oualah, who conceded a corner that came to nothing.

At the other end, Willson needed only three minutes to get involved as he nodded a Keelan O’Connell corner at City custodian Dylan Berry.

However, there was a blow for Weymouth in the sixth minute when Teddy Howe went down in pain, clutching his ankle.

After treatment he could not continue and McCoy came on to become the third debutant of the evening and 33rd different player Weymouth have used this season.

McCoy was instantly involved and showed fancy footwork to set up O’Connell on the edge of the box, only for the midfielder to be flagged offside.

The same fate befell Brad Ash moments later but the Terras plugged away and won another corner.

Taking it short, they picked out Harry Kyprianou and the Cypriot’s shot took a deflection for a corner that the Saints cleared, forcing Weymouth skipper Xander McBurnie into the book for halting the counter.

Five players were shown yellow – four to Weymouth – in a first half that did not merit that number of cautions.

Weymouth could have done with caution in a different way as a mix-up at the back led to them going 1-0 down.

Zane Banton’s cross from the right caused indecision between Gerring and Kyprianou, allowing Jeffers a free header for 1-0.

Weymouth’s back line appeared jittery thereafter as nervy defending from a cross preceded another Jeffers chance, the in-form striker lifting a close-range shot over.

However, the forward soon bagged his second of the game as Weymouth were caught flat-footed on the transition.

Jeffers ghosted past Gerring and Kyran Wiltshire’s inch-perfect through ball gave Jeffers a clear path to goal, the Saints’ hotshot needing no invitation to roll the ball past Oualah in the 33rd minute.

And Oualah was to thank for preventing a third three minutes later, when O’Connell was booked for a foul and Wiltshire’s dipping free-kick headed goalwards but for the keeper’s flying intervention.

Boss Bobby Wilkinson switched Gerring for Matsuzaka at the break but the new man made an error when play restarted in the second half, allowing Banton to strike just wide.

Weymouth, who were not at the races defensively, made another mistake when James was caught out, enabling Joe Neal to stride through.

However, he took too many touches and Oualah was out to block his shot – crucially, as Weymouth halved the deficit in the 59th minute.

Weymouth won a corner and O’Connell’s devilish delivery picked out the diving Willson who showed his prowess in the air again to score a debut goal.

Wilkinson reacted in typically attacking fashion, hauling off the booked James for Rose in Weymouth’s final change.

Saints’ own sub Weiss forced a save from Oualah, the keeper using his feet to repel the effort, before McBurnie’s free-kick was punched away by Berry.

Just as Weymouth were turning up the pressure with a corner, they undid all their good work.

St Albans found it far too easy as two flick-ons found their way to Weiss who beat Oualah when one-on-one.

Weymouth probed away in the dying stages and got themselves a sniff of a draw when Bearwish collected a cleared corner, chipped his man and fired home for a stylish goal in the 88th minute.

As the Terras pushed men forward, Oualah had to make two big saves, while the visitors could not make any further chances as they slipped to a 12th loss of the season.

More worryingly, were it not for Oualah, the Terras could have conceded more.

St Albans: Berry, Stanley (Dawson 54), Wiltshire, Adebiyi, Jeffers, Banton (Morrall 79), Sundire, Mukena, Moore, Di Trolio, Neal (Weiss 60). Subs not used: Paul, Smith.

Terras: Oualah, Howe (McCoy 9), Kyprianou, McBurnie, Gerring (Matsuzaka 46), James (Rose 60), Bearwish, Ash, O'Connell, Murray, Willson. Subs not used: Carlyle, Oyinsan.

Referee: George Laflin

Attendance: 830