WEYMOUTH player-manager Jason Matthews was “bitterly disappointed” on Saturday as he saw his side crash out of the FA Cup at lower league Petersfield Town.
Everything that could have gone wrong for the Terras on the day did, with Mark Molesley’s first-half dismissal compounding the visitors’ woes.
Alex Przespolewski gave the Rams a 19th-minute lead before Joe Briggs made it 2-0 with an effort that Matthews described as a “freak” goal from all of 45 yards out.
Molelsey was shown a straight red soon after and Michael Dixon sealed Petersfield’s win midway through the second period – Stewart Yetton netted Weymouth’s consolation.
Hurt by his team’s exit from the competition, Matthews was keen not to dwell on the defeat for too long.
“It was one of those days where we were on the end of a disappointing result,” he told Echosport.
“I’m bitterly disappointed but these things happen in the FA Cup and it’s about how we bounce back now.
“It was a case of not taking our chances in the opening 20 minutes and they scored from their first meaningful attack.
“Then they scored a freak goal. The guy hit a free-kick and it was probably going out of the ground to start with, but it caught the wind.
“I tipped it onto the bar and then it came back down, hit my on the head and went in – that for me summed the day up.”
He went on to add: “Some teams have their day in the cup and Petersfield had theirs, that’s for certain.
“I don’t think we had the rub of the green, but we’ve got to start taking the chances we create.
“Credit to Petersfield because they took their chances and they caught us with a sucker-punch to score their third when we were chasing the game.”
Matthews did acknowledge that Molesley couldn’t have too many complaints about his red card, though he did feel the midfielder was the victim of a foul just before the challenge that resulted in his dismissal.
However, like after the Ridgeway derby defeat to Dorchester, it is all about a positive reaction as far as Matthews is concerned.
“I’ve got faith in the lads and I’m sure we will turn it around,” he said. “We’ve got the top two in our next two league games so we’ll see where we are after those.
“We were never going to win the FA Cup but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want a run in it – it’s just not to be this season.
“We need to bounce back and it’s important we don’t dwell on this.”
