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STEWART Yetton once again popped up to make the difference for the Terras, as they ground out a crucial win at the Gore to overcome Burnham.
By Dan Rose
The deadly frontman applied an accomplished finish seven minutes from time to seal the spoils, after Jordan Copp had initially saw his sublime strike matched by Burnham’s Romaine Walker.
The Terras’ team selection was an interesting one, with Chris McPhee coming straight back into the side following a remarkable recovery from his case of metatarsalgia, and Copp coming in at left-back.
This meant Chris Shephard dropped to the bench after he was suffering with illness, and Jake Wannell was left out of the squad completely due to unavailability. Sam Poole also came in to replace Calvin Brooks.
Burnham hitman Nicke Kabamba was forced to drop to the bench as he was struggling with a hamstring injury, and Tom O’Regan was also named among the substitutes after picking up a knock when the sides met in midweek.
On the bumpy Burnham Surface, Steve Colwell managed to link up with Adam Kelly early on, whose shot was blocked, and Ashley Wells caused the home team some problems down the right hand side after he closely controlled a precise ball from McPhee.
With the visitors dominating possession in the opening 20 minutes, George Rigg let fly with a vicious effort from 25 yards which was plucked out of the top corner by Burnham stopper Alex Lynch, who had been reliable between the Blues’ sticks over the sides’ previous encounters.
Sills then linked nicely with Kelly to no avail and the home side fashioned their first real chance when Garry Jones flashed the ball across goal for Ryan Debattista, who was unable to connect.
Dan Brown then found himself unmarked inside the area and perhaps should have done better as he stabbed the ball at Terras’ player-manager Jasom Matthews from close range with just more than five minutes before the interval.
The away side then earned themselves a free-kick which Copp sent flying towards goal from a short run up, but Lynch was on hand once more to turn the ball away as the sides went in deadlocked once again.
Debattista then opened the second period with a bang for the Blues as he spurned a good chance on 47 minutes, when Matthews sprawled to beat his attempt on goal to safety.
And after sustaining some early pressure, three minutes later, Copp struck the Terras in front with a blistering effort from all of 30 yards, as he pulled the trigger out of virtually nowhere which beat Lynch low down.
But after Copp broke a drought of 260 minutes without a goal in open play between the sides, the Terras were pegged back just four minutes later.
Blues’ striker Romaine Walker got past Jamie Laird and after getting the ball out of his feet, he bent the ball into the top corner to level things up.
McPhee then picked out Kelly who tested Lynch once more and Burnham skipper Brad Hewitt, who missed the only penalty in Tuesday’s FA Trophy shootout, received treatment for a head injury.
Ashley Wells was then cautioned as the clock ticked by and the Terras looked for a winner.
And as things got tense with league rivals Poole Town winning elsewhere, Weymouth kept their cool and it was that man Yetton who grabbed a priceless winner seven minutes from time.
McPhee’s through ball was gathered by the clinical striker, who, with his first real chance of the afternoon, lofted the ball over Lynch to seal three points, and perfectly set up Tuesday’s mouth-watering home clash with the Dolphins.
