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Mark Molesley’s free-kick sends Weymouth into next round of Red Insure Cup
WEYMOUTH bounced back from conceding an early goal to beat Poole Town in the second round of the Red Insure Cup last night.
Emil Salama put the Dolphins ahead at the Bob Lucas Stadium but Adam Kelly levelled things up a few minutes later and Mark Molesley won the tie with a second-half free-kick.
Poole’s Alan Connell wasted a glorious chance to cancel out Molesley’s strike when he fired over from the penalty spot.
Weymouth made nine changes to the side that kicked off the 3-1 win at Merthyr, with only Ashley Wells and Kelly keeping their places in the starting XI.
Steve Boore took the goalkeeping gloves from injured player-manager Jason Matthews and Molesley captained the team.
As well as Molesley, Jordan Copp, Jake Wannell and Tim Sills were promoted from the bench, while George Rigg made a long-awaited return from injury.
But it was Poole who made the breakthrough with just 10 minutes on the clock.
A lovely ball from midfield caught out Wells and Salama produced a neat finish past Boore with the outside of his right foot.
However, Weymouth’s response was immediate.
A quick free-kick found its way to Kelly on the edge of the area and he curled a superb effort beyond a static Tom Rees.
The tie continued at a fairly quick tempo and a strong run and cross from Wells resulted in Rigg having a rather tame effort saved by Rees after the ball in wasn’t cleared properly.
Kelly then so nearly grabbed his second of the night.
Picking up the ball in more or less the same position from which he netted Weymouth’s equaliser, Kelly took aim with a shot that struck the crossbar and Sills couldn’t direct the rebound towards goal.
Both sides went close to scoring again before the break.
First, a good run from Toby Holmes ended with him having a shot saved low down by Boore.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, Jordan Copp tested Rees with a stinging left-foot drive.
After his heroics in the shootout success at Wimborne had helped the Terras through to round two, keeper Boore kept the hosts on level terms early in the second half.
A long ball down the middle saw Salama outmuscle Copp to go one-on-one with Boore, but the Terras’ keeper turned the striker’s effort out for a corner.
And after Jack Dickson had been cautioned for bringing down Kelly right on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area, Boore made a superb double save to deny Connell and Jamie White.
Those stops were vital for the hosts as on the hour mark they took the lead. A foul on Rigg gave Molesley the opportunity to float a measured free-kick past Rees.
Poole were then presented with a golden chance to equalise on 65 minutes when Copp fouled Salama in the Weymouth box.
But Connell took an awful penalty, blasting his spot-kick well over the crossbar.
Weymouth might have extended their advantage after that but Rees thwarted Kelly twice and Sills fired just wide.
At the other end, the Terras were solid in defence and saw out the game relatively comfortably.
