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Sills strike ensures Weymouth stay at the summit with win over Cambridge City
By Dorset ECHO
| A SOLITARY Tim Sills strike ensured the Terras maintained top spot in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division, with a hard-fought victory over Cambridge City.The former Torquay United and Aldershot man, who stated his intentions to add more goals to his Terras’ tally during the second half of the season, popped up on 26 minutes to net the winner, slotting the ball into the bottom corner to seal three points for his side.
The victory ensures Jason Matthews’ charges extend their run without a league defeat to 13 games, and kept their unbeaten home record in the division this season intact. Weymouth also extended their advantage at the summit to four points after title rivals Poole Town saw their game at Biggles-wade washed out, and the floodlights at Truro City failed after 82 minutes, meaning their clash with Corby Town was abandoned. With an unchanged starting XI from their draw against the Tigers last time out, Weymouth saw most of the possession in the early stages but failed to fashion anything clear cut. After Ashley Wells’ throw-in on the right flank, a neat pass from Adam Kelly found midfield partner George Rigg, who hit the first shot of the contest wide of a post, and Danny Kelly’s tame effort was well gathered by Matthews at the other end. Rigg looked lively early on. He broke forward and was cynically brought down by City’s Duran Reynolds, which earned him a booking, but from the resulting free-kick Chris Shephard’s attempt failed to cause any problems, as it ricocheted off the wall to safety. The Lilywhites then broke on the counter and Josh Dawkin’s effort sailed high and wide of the mark, and goalkeeper Matthews was then pole-axed by Chris Bacon as the pair contested a loose ball. Stewart Yetton then sent his first effort of the afternoon out of the ground, but it was his strike partner Sills who grabbed what proved to be the winner midway through the first half. After the Lilywhites failed to deal with a Weymouth corner, which pinballed around in the area, the ball eventually fell to the veteran marksman to record his fourth league goal of the season. Matthews then sprawled across goal to save a header from a Lilywhites’ set-piece, but the referee’s whistle had already been blown for a free-kick after an infringement in the area. Jake Wannell then had a superb opportunity to sign off in style in what was his final game for the club, as he was slid in by Kelly on the counter. But the defender had his head in his hands as his low left-footed drive was denied by the feet of Jamie Head in the visitors’ goal. Rigg then forced Head into a save for the cameras just short of the break to keep the score at 1-0, and Kelly came close from an inventive free-kick move with Shephard. Wannell then had another golden chance to give the home fans a leaving present on his departure moments after the restart. A neat flick from Sills on the edge of the area found the full-back in acres of space, but he snatched at the effort and the ball crashed into the side-netting. A disjointed second half then followed as Weymouth played into the breeze, with Alec Fiddes replacing Shephard just past the hour mark. The young winger nearly made an instant impact as he motored down the left wing on the counter, but astonishingly, referee Iain Parsons pointed for a goal kick after he was chopped down by a covering defender, much to the amazement of the home fans behind the goal. As expected, the visitors started to throw caution to the wind, but as much as they huffed and puffed, they never really had enough quality in the final third to force Matthews into making any troublesome saves. And as the final whistle blew, the table-topping Terras were given a good ovation by the home fans, and the Lilywhites were read the riot act on the pitch after the contest for their troubles.
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