Lacklustre Terras defeated by spirited Saints
Report: Georges Harrison and Sam Holmes
Weymouth lost 1-0 against St Albans City at a soaking wet Bob Lucas Stadium as they missed the chance to move up to second in the Vanarama National League South.
Terras manager, Mark Molesley, said it was a “disappointing afternoon” after saying the team’s performance was “nowhere near our standards”.
The only goal of the game come as Zane Bantom struck from distance and the ball cannoned off Joe Iaciofano and wrong-footed Calum Ward who slipped due to the poor pitch conditions made by the heavy rain throughout the game at the end of the first half.
The Terras had lots of opportunities they failed to capitalise on from the start of the match.
The team was not clinical enough as St Albans held out for a win that would move them one more step closer away from the relegation zone at 21st.
This is the first time Weymouth has lost back to back games in the league since August when Chippenham Town and Wealdstone beat the Terras.
Mark Molesley’s side had 3 changes from their Buildbase FA Trophy defeat at Barnet, deciding to bring Sam Sherring, Yemi Odubade and Joel Randall into the line-up.
Brennan Camp looked like he suffered an injury after he was on the receiving end of a bad tackle in the first half and Molesley was upset about the decision on the potential red card: “I thought we were taking that tackle out the game”. It later resulted in Camp coming off for Jordan Ngalo in the 52nd minute.
It was early on in the game when Ben Thomson could have put the Terras ahead, as he failed to take it past the St Albans goalkeeper in the 17th minute.
It was not the only chance Thomson had, in the 36th minute, he almost scored a brilliant goal after getting on the end of a long ball with a good touch and turned the defender inside out resulting in their keeper making a good save to keep it 0-0.
Another chance came from Randall who went on a dazzling run from the middle of the park to the opposition box, took it past the keeper but failed to find an open man with his pass to tap into an empty net.
In added time at the end of the first half, Bantom had a shot on goal which took a wicked deflection off of Iaciofano and ended in the back of the net due to an unfortunate slip from Ward to make it 1-0 to St Albans after the first 45.
From the start of the 2nd half, Weymouth did not take it up a gear as the players and substitutes on the pitch did not make an impact for the rest of the game.
Abdulai Baggie and Brett Williams were brought on for Randall and a quiet Josh McQuoid, but in the end, it did not help to break down a resilient St Albans side.
Lots of chances fell to St Albans forwards, as Weymouth went searching for a goal with a more advanced team positioning, which in turn, exposed the defence.
St Albans could have made it three or four-nil with the chances they were creating, but Ward was making good saves to save the team from a worse score-line.
Shaun Hobson ended up receiving the man of the match as he had to defend heroically from the constant waves of attacks by the visitors.
No significant chances were made by the Terras in the disappointing second-half, which gave three points to the better performing team on the day.
Now Weymouth head to Havant & Waterlooville on boxing day in a tough match with the promotion rivals, who are currently 3rd in league with Weymouth dropping down to 6th but only two points behind.
