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Fiddes fires Weymouth to Dorset Senior Cup final
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| SCREAMER from winger Alec Fiddes proved enough to seal a dramatic Weymouth comeback, and in-turn knock defending champions Poole Town out of the Dorset Senior Cup.
The Terras made a total of six changes from their 7-2 reverse at Chesham on Saturday, as they pitted their wits against a strong Dolphins’ line-up. And it was the visitors who opened the scoring in what was a real sense of déjà vu from when the sides met last month, with 11 minutes on the clock. After Luke Burbidge was felled in the area by Jordan Copp, Steve Devlin – as he did at Tatnam in the teams’ previous league encounter – calmly slotted the ball past Weymouth boss Jason Matthews to draw first blood for the Dolphins. The home side then tried to respond as winger Chris Shephard caused problems down the right flank. His shot was deflected, and with nobody around him, skipper for the evening Chris McPhee’s tame effort fell straight into the hands of goalkeeper Nick Hutchings. But Matthews’ men did eventually get their reward when new recruit Dean Evans tried his luck from distance. He caught Hutchings flapping in the visitors’ goal, and there was nothing the Poole gloveman could do to prevent Weymouth levelling things up after 27 minutes. Luke Roberts’ then showed quick feet for the Dolphins inside the Weymouth area following the break, but after creating half a yard for himself, he couldn’t find the target as Poole put the pressure on. And on 78 minutes, it was former Terra Burbidge who came back to haunt his previous employers. He spun and rifled a strike into the corner. The Dolphins were then reduced to 10 men when Marvin Brooks was given a straight red card for what was deemed a reckless challenge on Callum Laird, and late in added time, Weymouth managed to make their numerical advantage count. With men streaming forward, it was McPhee who touched home a drilled ball in from Copp to make it 2-2 and set up extra-time. Shephard’s free-kick then narrowly evaded the unmarked Callum Laird, and Devlin’s stinger was beaten away by Matthews. And it was former Weston-super-Mare man Fiddes who was the hero for the Terras nine minutes into the extra period. As the ball fell to him 25-yards out, and his thumping effort proved too hot for Hutchings to handle, and it clipped the upright and fell into the net to seal a 3-2 win.
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