Foiled by Feeney
By Nigel Biddlecombe
WEYMOUTH suffered their second successive Blue Square Premier
away defeat when they went down at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium
last night.
John Hollins was forced to make two changes to his starting
line-up for the local derby in Wiltshire.
Adam Bygrave replaced the suspended Cameron Mawer and James
Coutts was brought in for Kevin Sandwith whose wife was due
to have a baby.
A heavy storm shortly before the kick off ensured that the
playing surface was slick as the visitors kicked off.
Salisbury opened well when Jonathan Bass combined with Matthew
Tubbs to present Andrew Sandell with a good opportunity, but
Terras' keeper Richard Barnard easily held the shot.
Shortly afterwards Tubbs fired well over the bar, but there
was little else in the opening exchanges for either set of
supporters to cheer about as the game became a midfield battle.
Ryan Williams had the Terras' first chance in the 13th minute
but his attempt was deflected wide, whilst Sandell made a mess
of his header when he was in a good position.
Barnard gave the visitors a fright when he dropped Aaron
Cook's 31st minute free-kick, but Santos Gaia was on hand
to clear.
Williams collected the clearance and sped down the right
flank before firing a great cross across the area which Stuart
Beavon just failed to reach.
From the resulting goal kick Salisbury broke and Liam Feeney
saw a similar cross suffer the same fate.
Before the break Stephen Reed hit a free-kick into the home
side's defensive wall and Anton Robinson shot over from 25
yards out.
Weymouth looked to start the second half the better side
as Coutts fired a cross from Michael Malcolm over the crossbar
and James Bittner denied Beavon with a brave save at the Weymouth
striker's feet.
It was City who opened the scoring on 55 minutes when Weymouth
failed to deal with Scott Bartlett's long throw from the right,
Tubbs and Wayne Turk both saw their efforts cleared before
the loose ball fell to Feeney who fired home through a crowd
of players.
Following this reverse Wey-mouth put the home side under
a lot of pressure, Robinson sending a 30-yard effort narrowly
wide and Williams following suit with a snapshot on the turn.
Coutts was denied by Matthew Robinson's last-ditch tackle
and then saw his flicked header from Williams' cross fly just
past an upright.
Salisbury were looking dangerous on the break, as the Terras
pressed forward, and Charlie Griffin should have made more
of his far post header after Feeney had produced a fine cross.
In the dying minutes Michael Fowler and Sandell combined
well before the former fired his shot from distance wide and
Bartlett wasted a clear opportunity when he hit his effort
into the side-netting.
Weymouth can feel slightly unlucky not to have picked up
the point that their second half performance deserved, but
it was the failure to take the chances that came their way
that cost them in the end.
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