@TerraStatman brings us the latest edition of Facts of the Match ahead of tonight’s game against Concord Rangers.
Just the two games played against our Essex visitors and both in our successful National League South playoff winning campaign in 2019/20. In that pandemic-truncated year were lucky to play The Beach Boys twice before lockdown ended the regular season early as both games were played before the end of January. Our first encounter was at the end of September 2019 when we recorded a comfortable 3-0 home victory through Ben Thomson, Yemi Odubade and finally substitute Cam Murray. Therefore two-thirds of the goalscorers three years ago have the same opportunity this weekend!
However back to 2019/20 and in the return fixture in the new year in Essex we did not have it all our own way. Although we scored just before the break through Abdulai Baggie (on as an injury substitution for Josh McQuoid), the hosts equalised just after the break through O’Donoghue. Luckily it took us just another two minutes to regain the lead via an Odubade strike and we saw out the rest of the game. Therefore Concord are one of the few teams in our history that we enjoy a 100% record against that will no doubt be tested today!
Against all teams from the county of Essex we have a mixed record over the last four seasons with 5 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. The last team we played from the county was Braintree Town in November when we ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a Matsuzaka strike.
The stellar list of players who have featured for both teams is…barely a list: Nathan Carlyle and Joan Luque!
Obviously Irishman Nathan is a key member of the current Terras squad in defence having played more than 30 games since arriving last spring. He is one of the first names on the teamsheet and is almost an ever-present in the team. Weymouth is his first permanent club after rising through the ranks of the Millwall and QPR youth systems in London. Nathan has also featured for Hemel Hempstead on loan but more notably for Concord Rangers in the second half of the 2019/20 season and again in the first half of the 2020/21 campaign.
By contrast Spaniard Joan Luque’s career-path is unsurprisingly a little more exotic. Born in Barcelona he played at the famous club as a youngster before turning out for several lower-league teams in the country. He first tried his luck in England with Heybridge Swifts in the summer of 2018 but was quickly snapped up by football league Lincoln City. However, unable to cement a place in the first team he was loaned out to Bromley before joining Concord on a permanent basis in January 2019 although it was only a matter of months until the nomadic player moved on again. Eventually Luque joined Weymouth from Maidstone United in January 2021 but after 10 games with no gaols and assists the winger moved back to the Kent club.
#UpTheTerras
