LEAMINGTON 4 WEYMOUTH 1

A HAT-TRICK from Tom Berwick helped put the Brakes on Wey-mouth’s bid for a first win of the new season.

The Leamington hit-man struck twice in the space of 60 seconds to put the hosts in command before completing his treble in the dying seconds.

At 2-0 behind, midfielder Stephen Reed had given the away faithful a glimmer of hope with a fine effort.

But the visitors’ search for an equaliser proved elusive and the Brakes added further gloss to the scoreline with two late strikes – one from Berwick and other via Stephan Morley.

Defeated boss Brendon King said: “You can’t go away from home and give sides a two-goal head start.

“Having said that, we came back into it through Reedy and at 2-1 at half-time we weren’t out of it.

“We spoke about a few things at half-time and I thought that if we kept a clean sheet in the second half we would go on and win the game because I felt that the way it was going, if we had got one goal we would get another.

“Unfortunately, we huffed and puffed, but we just ran out of ideas.

“We didn’t have enough shots on target and we didn’t test their goalkeeper enough for my liking.

“They hit us with two goals in the last few minutes, against the run of play, and their manager said afterwards that we didn’t deserve to lose the game, especially not 4-1.

“It hurts but it’s up to us to do something about it.

“Leamington were up there last year and they were up there for a reason. They are strong, they play the ball in certain areas and they are effective in what they do.

“We have to be effective in what we do.”

King, whose side sit 18th in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division table, added: “It’s frustrating and it’s annoying as we had a lot of pressure at times. We just ran out of ideas come the end.

“It’s frustrating because we could have come away with something. The scoreline sounds like we were hammered but we weren’t.

“We don’t seem to be getting the rub of the green at the moment but that’s not making any excuses because sometimes you make your own luck.

“I can’t fault the lads for their effort and work-rate. It’s a frustrating game at times but you have to bounce back and we will lift the boys for tomorrow night’s game with Chipp-enham, where hopefully we will roll our sleeves up and put it right.”

With captain Ben Gerring suspended and Ollie Tribe unavailable, the Terras handed competitive debuts to defenders Tom Lang and Tim Stephenson, who has joined the club on loan from AFC Bournemouth.

Weymouth also lost midfielder Richard Marshallsay to illness on the morning of the game, which meant King was forced to name himself among the substitutes.

The manager said: “The back four were playing together for the first time and it showed on a couple of occasions.

“They are big enough to take it on the chin though and learn from it.”

Brakes: Breeden, Mace, Morley, Downes (Owen 27), Hood, Daly, Tuohy, Husband (Taylor 67), Blyth (Sheldon 87), Berwick, Batchelor. Subs not used: Cartwright, Williams.

Terras: Jordan, Lang, Tasker, Napper, Stephenson, Poole, McKechnie (Bassett 73), Wolleaston, Groves (Conning 85), Byerley, Reed. Subs not used: Dixon, King, Manley.

Attendance: 579