Upwey & Broadwey club captain Pete Jarvis faces a race against time to be back for his side’s local derby with Weymouth Sports at Weymouth College tonight (6.30pm) after becoming stranded abroad because of the volcanic ash cloud that has thrown airlines into chaos.
Jarvis missed Saturday’s 6-2 success at AC Matravers because of a trip to Gibraltar, but has been unable to fly home because of restrictions on European airspace since last Thursday.
He could not get a boat from Bilbao so has taken a train to St Malo, hoping he will then be able to get on a ferry back to Weymouth.
“He is trying to get back to a ferry port but I don’t know whether he will make it back for tonight,” said Upwey boss Steve Reynolds. “We will miss his influence and work-rate but he is hoping to have got to St Malo by this morning.
“He is desperately trying to get home for the game but I don’t hold out much hope for him.”
Reynolds’ Redlands-based outfit travelled to AC Matravers without Jarvis on Saturday and hit their hosts for six, with six different players getting on the scoresheet.
Sean Zima took advantage of a mistake by the AC Matra-vers’ goalkeeper to open the scoring early on and Darren Samways bagged the second inside the opening five minutes after linking with Ben Coultard.
However, Upwey took their foot off the gas, allowing the Dorset Senior League strugglers to pull one back and threaten to score an equaliser.
“We thought it was going to be easy and then got a bit lethargic,” said Reynolds. “Matravers then came back and scored one and could have been in the lead by half-time if it hadn’t been for Clint Coltart.
“But we stamped our authority in the second half and six could easily have been 10.”
Justin Crawford netted another penalty to make it 3-1 before Richie Frost got in on the action after a one-two with Jason Pearce.
Chris Sweetser-Hawkes then rose from the bench to set up Coultard for Upwey’s fifth and then completed the scoring himself by rolling the ball through the home custodian’s legs, just after Matravers had grabbed their second.
Phil Anderson will return to the squad for tonight’s match with Sports and Reynolds is not quite sure what to expect after Steve Alcock’s side lost their second match in a row.
“They could be a wounded beast or could just roll over, I just don’t know,” he said.
Upwey: Coltart, Coombes, Crawford, McLucas, Porteous, Pearce (Purnell 75), McDonald, Frost, Zima, Samways (Sweetser-Hawkes 60), Coultard.
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