Weymouth 3 v 0 Histon | 31st January 2015

Reid opens account in Histon triumph
By David Williams

But with rivals Corby losing, victory for Jason Matthews’ men took them up to second in the table, level with Truro and two points behind leaders Poole, whose match at Arlesey was postponed.

For the Histon clash, player-manager Matthews made only one change to his starting line-up after the midweek loss at Hungerford.

Chris McPhee returned from injury to replace George Rigg, while Conor Jevon earned a place on the bench.

The Terras nearly opened the scoring just four minutes in, though it was visiting skipper Stuart Wall who almost scored when he headed a cross against his own crossbar.

Histon had their first chance on goal 11 minutes in, Nick Freeman lifting the ball over Matthews but also over the target, before Curtis Fulcher couldn’t quite reach Peter Clark’s dangerous cross.

There were a few neat touches from the home side in and around their opponents’ box but the final ball always seemed to lack any conviction, and the windy con-ditions weren’t helping either.

Long-range efforts from Adam Kelly and Steve Colwell didn’t trouble Enol Ordonez in the Histon goal and the half looked to be petering out with no side able to break the deadlock.

However, in the first minute of time added on, Kelly crossed from the left and the diminutive Shep-hard headed home his sixth Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division goal of the campaign.

Shephard nearly turned provider for Reid five minutes into the second half but the latter, on loan at the Bob Lucas Stadium from Exeter City, put his header wide of Ordonez’s right-hand post.

Histon right-back Lewis Mc-Donald tried his luck from distance and Matthews, who had lost his footing, was grateful to see the ball go wide of the target.

Although the visitors rarely troubled Matthews in the home goal, the Terras knew they had to find a second to make the points theirs.

And they did just that with 68 minutes on the clock.

McPhee picked up possession some 30 yards out, chipped a lovely ball into Stewart Yetton, he chested it down to Reid and the striker rifled a first-time shot that rocketed past Ordonez.

Weymouth’s aim now was to build on their lead and maintain a clean sheet at the back, and Steve Colwell did his best to help out in both departments.

First, he tracked back to take the ball off Tye Phillips who was shaping to shoot, then Colwell found Reid only for the frontman to fire over.

The Terras were then given a scare with 15 minutes left when Histon substitute Salim Relizani smacked a long-range effort against a post.

At the other end, an injury to McDonald almost benefitted the home side.

The stricken defender played Reid onside in acres of space, he fed Yetton but the Terras’ captain was denied by Ordonez.

The third goal did come in the 82nd minute when Alec Fiddes, on for Yetton, played in Reid and the former Dorchester man produced a deft finish to score his second of the afternoon.

Fiddes went close to adding a fourth deep in injury-time, but having linked up well with fellow substitute Jordan Copp, he couldn’t keep his shot down.