Weymouth Women 1
Thornicroft 12′
South West Regional Women’s league division 1 south (13/10/24)
An early Kaydee Thornicroft goal was enough for Weymouth to make it 5 wins from 6 to start the season, but that didn’t tell the half of it, as the Terras put in a truly heroic effort to win this one.
The Terras travelled with a squad of just 12. Redding, Standen, and Holmes remain sidelined with injuries, whilst Billing was unavailable due to work commitments. That meant a first senior appearance for Dionne Hopkins in defence. Scarlet Paul returned to the side after missing last week’s win over Bideford.
Weymouth started quickly and had the games first chance after less than a minute when Screen sent Webb away down the left flank, and her shot was deflected inches wide for a corner.
Shorlty afterwards, Wilson worked the home goalkeeper with a strike from range, before the hosts counter-attacked and Heybourne made a good save low down to her left.
Heybourne then made an excellent diving save a couple of minutes later before holding onto a long range shot, as the hosts put the Terras under pressure.
But on 12 minutes, Weymouth made the breakthrough. Screen played a ball into space ahead of Thornicroft, who just managed to reach the ball ahead of the home goalkeeper. She hit the ball against the keeper and the ball ricocheted into Thornicroft’s path for her to roll it in an empty net from the edge of the box to put Weymouth in front.
On 19 minutes the same two players linked up again with Thornicroft firing over the bar from Screen’s lay-off.
Weston-Super-Mare would then put Weymouth under a sustained spell of pressure, with Heybourne having to make a couple of good saves, and Paul made a crucial block when the hosts were in behind and about to pull the trigger.
Then – disaster. Sarah Davis’ match was ended by a nasty knee injury, which left Weymouth with over an hour to play with no substitutes, and several walking wounded.
The home side continued to have the lion’s share of possession, and they had big appeals for a handball in the box waived away, but Weymouth held firm to take their 1-0 lead into the break.
With several walking wounded and players having to do jobs in unnatural positions, the Terras knew they were going to need to dig very deep in the second half, and indeed the home side would continue to dominate possession, but Weymouth continued to show great discipline and work rate as they defended as a unit and forced the hosts to resort to efforts from range.
On the hour mark, Heybourne held onto a free kick from the edge of the box, and she was happy to watch a couple of other hopeful shots roll wide.
On the few occasions Weston-Super-Mare did manage to get the ball in behind, there were some heroic last ditch tackles from Potter and Clark.
In a rare foray forwards, Hannah Fowler curled a shot narrowly wide of the mark on 65 minutes, and on 74 minutes Weymouth missed a golden chance to double their lead, when Thornicroft was played in by Wilson but rolled her shot inches wide of the post.
As the clock ticked down, Weymouth continued to defend brilliantly and frustration visibly began to creep into the hosts, as they began to make mistakes and resorted to even more hopeful long range efforts.
Heybourne was equal to anything on target – plucking a couple of shots out of the air, and giving the defence much needed breathers.
Weston-Super-Mare had a couple of corners late on but the Terras stood firm, and to a woman, they fell to the floor at the sound of the final whistle. Every player had given absolutely everything for the cause, showing tremendous spirit, passion and fight to grind out this result. Several had played through the pain barrier and some even literally bled for the cause, but they got their just rewards.
The victory means Weymouth stay 3 points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played 2 games more than the sides below them. Nevertheless, 5 wins from 6 is a start beyond their wildest dreams, and to do this with such a long injury list is nothing short of remarkable.
They’ll look to retain their position at the summit when they welcome Feniton to the Bob Lucas Stadium next Sunday, for what will be a special day with hundreds of tickets being handed out to local schools.
Weymouth’s development team made it a 6 point Sunday for the club as they won 2-1 at home to Bridport development, thanks to first half goals from Sarah Fowler and Laney Stone. Next week they travel to Longfleet Lionesses in the first round of the county cup.
Trras starting XI: Heybourne, Potter, Hopkins, Screen, Fowler, Thornicroft, Roberts, Webb, Davis, Wilson, Paul. Substitute: Clark
