Weymouth 1 v 1 Redditch United | 14th February 2015

10-man Weymouth share the spoils with the Reds
By Dorset ECHO

Having added to his squad earlier in the day by confirming the loan signing of Robbie Matthews from Gosport Borough, Weymouth manager Jason Matthews placed his new recruit straight into the starting line up, as one of three changes from the side that lost at Poole Town a week previously.

Alec Fiddes and Reid also returned to the side and Connor Riley-Lowe, Steve Colwell and Adam Kelly all dropped to the bench.

And it was Exeter City loanee Reid, on what could be his final game for the club, who almost broke the deadlock after just three minutes on the counter attack.

Following a corner for the visitors, he powered down the right to gather Chris Shephard’s precise through ball, and worked Reds’ stopper Sam Hornby with a stinging effort at his near post.

The visitors then almost mirrored the Terras’ opening chance when Simeon Maye failed to gather on the break, and Weymouth captain Stewart Yetton swept the ball just wide of the far post after Reid and Shephard combined neatly once more.

As the hosts continued to probe, Yetton, still sporting his protective headwear, jinked away from three men and fired into the stands. George Rigg then volleyed wide after Shephard had drawn Hornby out of position.

Chris McPhee’s diving header was then gathered from a well-delivered cross from Wells, and Terras’ boss Matthews found himself at full stretch to make his first save of the encounter.

Having weathered Weymouth’s intent, Reds’ midfielder Leigh Phillips then steamed forward down the right.

His rasping attempt across goal was palmed away by Weymouth keeper Matthews, who flew to his right to thwart the effort. James Mutton then headed over from the resulting corner.

Yetton was then fouled which allowed Shephard to deliver a free-kick from deep, which just evaded Robbie Matthews at the back post in search of a goal on his debut.

Following the break, Calvin Brooks must have thought he had put the Terras a goal up.

He arrived at the back post to meet a devilish ball from Reid from the right flank, and saw his header kept out by Hornby, who stuck out a mitt at the last moment to pull off a sublime reaction save.

A teasing cross from Redditch’s Phillips almost caught manager Matthews off guard as he scrambled to his back post with the sun in his eyes and saw the ball drift wide, with Reds’ frontman Courtney Baker-Richardson throwing himself into the Terras’ net in an attempt to put the ball home.

The visitors started to look dangerous at this point and arguably should have drawn first blood through Calvin Dinsley.

He failed to take his chance from the edge of the box after the away side dispossessed Shephard and beat the offside trap.

But as Weymouth had started living dangerously, they showed their character, and took the lead on 67 minutes.

Some slick work down the right hand side between Shephard and defender Wells opened up the visitors, and it was Reid who was on hand to put the ball home with a neat finish on the turn from close range.

But, out of nowhere, Wells was given his marching orders three minutes later.

He was adjudged by match official David Goard to have recklessly challenged George Carline, much to the disgust of the home fans.

A man light, proceedings then got worse for the Terras, as Redditch notched a stunning equaliser.

After Jason Matthews had punched a high ball into his area, there was nothing he could do as full-back Flanagan pulled the trigger and bent the ball into the top corner of the net to make it 1-1.

With Weymouth rattled by the leveller, Dinsley tried his luck once again, and his dipping strike fell just over the top.

But despite being a man down for the final exchanges, Weymouth held on to claim a share of the spoils, with Wells being awarded the sponsor’s man of the match accolade.