HEREFORD 4
Mills 35, 38, 79, Smith 72


WEYMOUTH 1
Jake McCarthy 53

A MUCH-CHANGED Weymouth outfit fell at the first qualifying round of the Buildbase FA Trophy at Edgar Street.

A hat-trick from Hereford’s John Mills and a goal from Lance Smith sealed the tie for the Bulls with captain Jake McCarthy scoring for the Terras.

Manager Mark Molesley made five changes to the team that lost to Frome Town on Tuesday with Mark Cooper, Tiago Sa, Antonio Diaz, Harry Baker and Abdulai Baggie coming in for Calvin Brooks, Callum Buckley, Ashley Wells, Ben Thomson and Charlie Davis.

Before the match, Weymouth completed the signing of Sierra Leone international winger Baggie who went straight into the team.

The two sides have already met in the league this season with Hereford winning 2-0 at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Weymouth started aggressively with two shots in the opening two minutes.

Firstly, Ben Thomson tried his luck from distance, which went wide before Harry Baker was put through on goal but had his effort saved by Hereford keeper Martin Horsell.

The hosts responded with attempts of their own as they forced a corner in the third minute.  The Bulls stung the palms of visiting keeper Mark Travers with a shot in the 14th minute.

Shortly after, the Terras went close and were only denied the opening goal by a goal-line clearance after a McCarthy header from a corner.

McCarthy was proving influential in the early stages as this time he went close by providing the ball to Baker who hit the side-netting.

Hereford then went close as a header from six yards out was put wide by Smith.

However, Hereford took the lead in the 35th minute as a long ball up to Mills proved effective and he went on to fire the ball past Travers.

Three minutes later, Weymouth were caught again as Mills found himself in space to fire again past Travers and into the corner of the net.

Baker was booked late into the first half after a late challenge but responded by nearly scoring two minutes later with a shot that was cleared off the line.

The Terras made a bright start to the second half and it wasn’t long before they reduced the deficit.

McCarthy managed pull a goal back eight minutes into the second period after firing the ball past Horsell into the top corner.

Not long after, the Bulls had two close chances in three minutes as Travers was forced into a good save after a shot from distance and McCarthy cleared the ball off the line.

Shortly after Diaz went off for McGrath, Baggie nearly combined with the latter but had the ball dealt with by the Hereford defence.

Hereford extended their lead in the 72nd minute after a shot from Haysham was saved by Travers but followed up by Smith for Hereford's third.

Seven minutes later, the home side then further extended their lead as Mills sealed his hat-trick.

A quick free-kick seemed to catch the Terras offguard as Mills ran forward to claim his third of the match.

In the closing stages, Charlie Davis came on for Josh Carmichael and nearly made an instant impact as a deflected shot went just wide of a post. 

Weymouth will now look ahead to their Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division match on Saturday where they travel to Hitchin Town. Before that there is a Dorset Senior Cup clash at Bridport on Wednesday.

Hereford: Horsell, Oates, O'Shea, Purdie, Green, Deaman, Reffell, McGrath, Mills, Haysham (Page 80'), Smith. Subs not used: Bird, Preston, Preen, Harris.

Terras: Travers, Cooper, Sa, Wakefield, Down, Carmichael (Davis 79'), Diaz (McGrath 65'), McCarthy (C), Baker, Thomson, Baggie. Subs not used: Brooks, Haigh, Buckley.

Attendance: 1552