If only home fans could have seen Terras

THE Terrras left Oxford on Saturday with the tag "Luck Weymouth" firmly stuck on them by a very partison crowd of Headington supporters. This was not strictly true.

Any team who could have fought with spirit, and no little skill that Weymouth produced in this thrill-a-minute encounter well deserved whatever reward they got away with.

Weymouth pulled out mutch that was good from a footballing point of view. But most of it was defensive. With the extra sharpness that comes with full-time training, Headington, for long stretches, gave them what is commonly known as tousing.

But when it came to courage and cold resolve, the Terras emerged as a team of fighters - how I wish their own supporters could have seen them. They refused absolutely to countenance the fought of defeat.

Headington displayed the greater thrust, that much must be admitted, but it was Weymouth who prodcued the heroes.

Goalkeeper Alex Smith was one. Ernie Peacock was another, and so was Peter Langham. How they fought.

And in the matter of skill, the home team had no one to match Marcel Gaillard and Bill Anderson.

This pair took control of the midfield sorties on the left flank. Anderson played with the air of a man anxious to prove that he has been in the second team for too long, while Gaillard assumed most effectively the role of "general."

As a tearaway shot-potter, Gaillard was never noticed. Yet his mastery in midfield was disputed by no one. With a display that would have suprised his critics, he was the model link man and his passes nine time out of ten were sheer perfection.

Stocker had but one chance throughout the match. And how he took it. He fired a great shot home from a Dailey cross to put Weymouth ahead after 27 minutes.

And no one was louder in praise of Stocker than the man who has had to move over to inside-right to make room for him - Jim Dailey. "Phil is playing really well," was Dailey's sincere after-the-match comment.

LANGMAN MAKES AMENDS

A week ago Peter Langman cost Weymouth a point when he twice put through his own goal against Poole. In this game he saved them a point.

How Langman got back to scrape an effort from Dickson off the line was a mystery Headington folk will long pounder over. It came in the catergory of super save.

Last week Langman would probably have only helped the ball in! That's how soccer fortunes wavers.

Smith's slowness in coming out in the first place had caused this scare. Yet most of the young goalkeeper's other work was of a very high class indeed. He was the man Headington blamed for robbing them a win.

The only real chance theyt had all afternoon fell to Stocker. And he took it.

Rarely have Weymouth had to work so hard for a share of the spoils. And on that score alone, they deserved the draw.

True they had slices of luck - Headington twice hit the wood-work - but there is a real merit in a draw which is gained against the odds.

A week ago Headington beat Bath, the league leaders. This must go down as one of the Terras' best away performances to date.

It was their third league draw in successive matches and hoists them, deservedly, from fifth to third place in the league table.

Denial, next to winger Love, Headington's most dangerous attacker, got the equaliser in the 39th minute.