South West Counties League Division Two

WEYMOUTH 1

FOREST GREEN ROVERS 2

DEPLETED Weymouth Under-18s were unfortunate to lose their first home game of the South West Counties League campaign at Weymouth College.

The Terras went into the clash minus three influential midfielders Tom Richardson and Ben Reiffer, who were called up to the first team squad, and new signing Shola Dadson who was suffering from a hamstring injury.

To make matters worse, the Terras lost three defenders to injury within 20 minutes. Jordan Vincent, Mark Sargent and Owen Kirlew were all taken off with the latter two having to go to hospital.

Against a physical Forest Green side this handicap proved too much for the youngsters, though few could deny a draw would have been a fair result.

The visitors took the lead on the half hour when home goalkeeper Michael Neish failed to hold a cross-cum-shot and the opposition striker was left with the simple task of putting the ball into an empty net.

The early goal spurred Weymouth on, and they managed to equalise on the stroke of half-time through top scorer Charlie Tubbs who finished neatly from an acute angle after good work by Ryan McKechnie and George Sparrow.

Forest Green regained the lead straight after the interval when a long hopeful punt upfield eluded Jamie Frampton and a Rovers player was able to race clear to slide the ball past Neish.

A change of tactics though resulted in Weymouth getting on top and dominating possession with Tubbs and Terngu Agera in particular missing chances to equalise.

New signing Bostry Bansande impressed greatly on his debut and was instrumental for the Terras as they continued to fight back.

Weymouth seemed to have got a lifeline in the last few minutes of normal time when they were awarded a penalty for deliberate handball but the normally reliable Agera blasted the ball over the bar and despite further late pressure, they were unable to get the equaliser.

A disappointed manager Tim Davis said: "I couldn't fault the players commitment because they gave everything they had against a well organised team.

"I was worried about the game as I didn't feel we had a player in midfield who could pick out the killer passes. This proved to be the case and to cap it all we lost three defenders in 20 minutes which meant I had to reorganise and that proved difficult."

In their next game, the youngsters will travel to Team Bath, managed by ex-Terras favourite Matt Hale, where new signing Liam Greatrex will be among those competing for a place in the line-up.

Terras: Neish, Vincent, Poole, Frampton, Kirlew, Bansande, Tribe, Sparrow, McKechnie, Agera, Tubbs. Subs: Sargent, Perrett, Lochrie. Subs not used: Herron, Golsby