Brilliant Brett wins it for Weymouth

WEYMOUTH 1

Williams 75

WELLING 0

IT TOOK a late strike from substitute Brett Williams for Weymouth to finally get over the line against a highly organised, ten-man Welling outfit, a result that slides them straight back up to seventh place in the standings after ten games.

Williams finally broke the Wing’s incredible resolve when he pounced onto the loose ball after keeper Dan Wilks had parried Jake McCarthy’s 20-yard piledriver to net a deserved winner after the Terras had completely dominated the match following the dismissal of Connor Dymond just half an hour into the game.

New signings Lionel Ainsworth and Shaun Hobson retained their places in the starting line-up but Sam Sherring wasn’t deemed fit to play a part and in his place came back Stephane Zubar.

Winger Yemi Odubade earned a recall in place of Cameron Murray who returned to the bench where he was joined by Ashley Wells and goalkeeper Tom Rees.

The hosts were certainly in the ascendancy well before the game’s pivotal red card incident and as early as the first minute they carved out an early chance when a simple corner routine saw Yemi Odubade roll the ball to McCarthy lurking on the edge of the box in acres of space, but the skipper carelessly struck a shot that flew well over the bar.

In the early exchanges, the visitors were to enjoy what was to be their brightest moments, beginning with a 20-yard snapshot from Luke Rooney that span just wide of the post before Anthony Cook won and took free-kick that whizzed inches wide of Calum Ward’s right hand upright.

But, after the initial ten minutes, the Terras started to find their stride and opportunities came thick and fast, although they were mainly confined to shots from outside of the area.

Andy Robinson was the first to have a go after 12 minutes with a deflected attempt that went out for a corner, and two minutes later the same man tried his luck when seizing on a loose ball that he fired left-footed straight down the throat of Wilks who collected cleanly.

Ainsworth was looking lively at this point and, from an identical position, he smashed in a drive that just swerved wide of the right-hand post.

In response, Cook gave the Weymouth defence a few palpitations when his cheeky 45-yard chip just sailed over but the action soon switched back to the other end as Calvin Brooks won a free-kick which Ollie Harfield fired limply into the base of the Wings’ wall.

Then came the first half’s defining moment when Dymond, who had already picked up an early booking, completely poleaxed McCarthy right under the main stand, and so there was little surprise when referee Ross Martin brandished the red card.

Welling quickly re-shuffled with Josh Oyinsan immediately withdrawn for Montel Agyemang, and to their credit, their numerical disadvantage wasn’t noticed until after the break.

However, the same pattern of play continued with the Terras now taking all the attacking initiative as Harfield fired in a better delivery when Abdulai Baggie was tripped but Wilks held comfortably.

Ten minutes ahead of the break Baggie teed up McCarthy whose daisycutter from 25 yards flew narrowly wide before a faster counter saw Ainsworth’s attempt blocked by Joe Anderson while Baggie then shot wide.

The last real action of the half saw Harfield drag a diagonal drive just off target but surely, with the intense pressure the Wings were under, a goal had to come in the second period.

After the switch, the home side remained camped in the Wings’ half for long periods but were still finding it difficult to get in behind a disciplined Welling backline and so became more and more frustrated as speculative attempts from distance by Brooks, Harfield, Robinson and then McCarthy all sailed harmlessly over Wilks’ bar.

Weymouth’s best moments usually followed a jinking run from Baggie who was linking up well with Harfield down the left side but the elusive goal only arrived following the introduction of Williams for Ainsworth after 68 minutes.

It took the striker just seven minutes to find a richly deserved winner when McCarthy struck a beauty from just outside the box that Wilks flew down to his left to block only for fox-in-the-box Williams to seize on the loose ball and fire home.

From there on in the Terras never really looked like adding gloss to the scoreline and there was one nervous moment for the home fans to endure in the 85th minute when substitute Jack Jebb deflected effort soared just wide with Ward scampering across his goal, and then from the resulting corner Rob Swaine’s close-range strike had to be hacked off the line before Weymouth could celebrate a highly creditable victory over seasoned opponents.

Weymouth: Ward, Harfield, Zubar, Ainsworth, (Williams 68) McCarthy, Thomson, Baggie, Odubade, Robinson, (Wakefield 74), Brooks, Hobson.

Subs not used: Wells, Murray, Rees

Welling United: Wilks, Rich-Baghuelhou, Anderson, Dymond, Swaine, Okosieme, Cook, Rooney, (Jebb 83,) Oyinsan, (Agyemang 30,), Coombes, (Cosgrave 71,), McCallum.

Subs not used: Prestedge, Green.

Attendance: 1,034