Weymouth punished by hungry Tigers
By Dan Rose
WEYMOUTH'S final home game of the season petered out with a whimper, as a weak second-half showing proved the Terras’ downfall against Truro City.
In an encounter that had chances in abundance throughout, it summed up how up and down Jason Matthews’ men can be at present, as Steve Tully’s Tigers ran out winners against Weymouth for the second time in less than two weeks.
With Matthews naming an unchanged team, it didn’t take long for the same group to carry on the momentum they gained at Redditch United on Saturday, as they found the net with just three minutes gone.
A mix-up in the City defence gave Isaac Vassell the opportunity to stride down the left-hand side and square the ball to Stewart Yetton, who couldn’t miss from three yards out to give the hosts the lead.
But that advantage lasted only three minutes as Weymouth were caught out from the first corner of the contest.
After Warren Daw delivered a viscous in-swinger into the six- yard box, defender Paul Kendall was first to react to a knock down and poked home the equaliser.
And before the Terras could regroup from conceding once, the Tigers then took the lead through ex-Dorchester Town man Ben Watson, who gave his markers a torrid afternoon throughout.
Under pressure from Cody Cooke, Matthews couldn’t gather a towering high ball on the edge of his six-yard box, which allowed Watson to comfortably head his team into the lead and cap a frantic opening 10-minute spell.
It was then Cooke’s turn to attempt to grab a goal moments later as he was given space to shoot just wide of a post from 12-yards out.
But with 24 minutes gone, Weymouth responded again, and it was the Vassell and Yetton partnership that paid dividends once more.
After the former was brought down on the counter-attack by Truro’s Jake Ash, which in turn earned him a yellow card, Vassell then picked himself up and moved swiftly down the left once again to receive the ball and slide in Yetton, who snatched his second to make it 2-2.
The Terras’ top marksman then nearly claimed a first-half hat-trick after his left-footed volley on the turn went close.
Minutes later, Steve Colwell set Jake Green free down the right wing, who delivered a pinpoint cross for Vassell to meet the ball at the far post with a powerful header which cleared the crossbar.
In a highly entertaining opening period, attacks from both sides continued and but for a superb reaction stop from Matt-hews, Truro would have gone in with an advantage.
After another ex-Magpie Dan Green rifled a cross in that Michael Walker could not avoid, the Weymouth goalkeeper stuck out his right mitt on pure instinct to stop the ball ricocheting into the net. But with the first chance of the second-half, Matthews’ charges fell behind once more.
Neil Slateford, who bagged the winner when the sides met less than two weeks ago, sauntered his way through the Weymouth defence and found the bottom corner with a precise low strike, which Matthews was helpless to prevent.
And after George Rigg flashed a header over from Jake Green’s centre, the Terras gave themselves a mountain to climb thanks to some more suspect defending from set-pieces.
With the home side unable to clear another Truro delivery into the box, the ball eventually found its way to Kendall who headed into the path of Watson to notch his second strike of the afternoon on 58 minutes.
Weymouth then tried to shuffle things up in the midfield as they swapped Steve Colwell for Adam Kelly, which nearly had an instant impact on proceedings.
On his return from a hamstring injury, Kelly charged on to Michael Walker’s cushion header and hit the ball with power narrowly over.
But as the home side threw men forward in search of a reply, if anything, it was Truro who were more likely to snatch a fifth on the break, and they did just that.
Arran Pugh, another former Dorchester man, waltzed through the home side’s deflated backline and the ball fell loose for replacement Liam Eddy to nudge home a scruffy fifth and sum up the Terras’ miserable second half showing.
http://www.theterras.co.uk/website/match-reports/2013_2014/truro_city_home.htm
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