Weymouth back to winning ways
WEYMOUTH 2
Odubade 70, Baggie 84
OXFORD CITY 1
Fleet 90+3
Report: Georges Harrison
Weymouth finished the year off with a dominant 2-1 win against Oxford City at the Bob Lucas Stadium in the Vanarama National League South.
The Terras sat in 6th coming into the match, while City were 13th in the league.
The fans were given a late Christmas present as Weymouth bounced back to winning ways, and it has kept them in the fight for the top 7 play-off positions.
The three points came with two debuts for the club, with Tom Whelan (on loan from Yeovil Town) and Summer signing Ade Olumuyiwa coming into Mark Molesley’s line-up.
The debutants had to play in front of a crowd of 1,131, but Molesley had praise for Whelan who has come in to share the responsibility with Jake McCarthy and Josh Wakefield in the middle of the park.
Molesley said: “We’ve all been big fans of his ever since we played against him at Salisbury” and that his debut is a “platform to build on” for future games.
Weymouth lined up differently to their usual formation, with the gaffer opting for a 3-4-3 system in which Brennan Camp and Ollie Harfield played as wingbacks as Shaun Hobson, Sam Sherring and Ade Olumuyiwa sat as a three at the back.
The two central midfielders were McCarthy and Whelan, with Adbulai Baggie, Yemi Odubade and Brett Williams in the attacking positions.
For the first half of the match, Weymouth were absolutely dominating the visitors as barrages of attacks forced City to defend from the start.
Baggie and Odubade were wreaking havoc on the wings and worked well with Camp and Harfield to get in a crossing position.
As play went on, the whole stadium could sense the opening goal coming.
However, the referee (Marc Whaley) suffered an injury and had to be replaced for another official, which paused the game for a long period of time and all momentum was lost for the Terras.
As a result of the injury stoppage for the referee and some earlier factors during the match, the first half was given nine minutes of added time.
Weymouth came out into the second-half with the same intensity they showed in the first, but City were getting close as they started to get some significant chances that could have seen them take the lead.
Molesley made an attacking substitution, bringing on Jordan Ngalo for Olumuyiwa who had a solid debut at the back.
The Terras kept the wing back system, Ngalo was on the right side and Camp rotated to the back three.
It wasn’t until the 70th minute when Odubade broke the deadlock, in which he pounced on a City defender’s mistake and finished his chance at the near post from an extremely tight angle.
Only five minutes later the Nigerian was substituted for Cameron Murray having scored the well-deserved goal after an electric performance.
Oxford started to attack more frequently and waste less time, as the opposition keeper was jeered by the Weymouth fans sarcastically because he now took his goal-kicks with urgency.
The Terras did not back down as they looked to add another goal to guarantee the three points, Williams nearly scored but he missed by inches after a curling free-kick by Harfield landed at the back-post for a tap-in.
Baggie then sealed the contest in the 84th minute with a terrific run from the halfway line and slotted it calmly into the side netting.
The finishing position was identical to the first goal, from a tight angle to City’s keeper right.
The game was played out by Weymouth, until City struck too little too late in the 93rd minute with Reece Fleet finding the top corner with an outrageous shot from far out.
The Terras start 2020 off with a very exciting match-up against Havant & Waterlooville on New Year’s Day.
Weymouth will need to continue the form from this match into the game versus Havant to keep up what has been a fantastic first half of the season for the Terras.
Terras: Ward, Harfield, Sherring, McCarthy, Baggie, Odubade (Murray 75), Olumuyiwa (Ngalo 63), Whelan, Williams (Thomson 88), Camp, Hobson.
Subs not used: Rees, Wakefield.
Oxford City: King, Ashby, Moore-Azille, Oastler, Wiltshire, Fleet, Benyon (Owusu 79), McEachran (George 79), Berkoe, Rowe (Lofthouse 54), Gordon.
Subs not used: Jefford, Tapp.
Attendance: 1,131
