Weymouth Vs St Albans City
National League South, Saturday 9 November, Bob Lucas Stadium, 15.00 GMT
In the words of Mark Molesley, “the games are coming thick and fast,” Terras fans.
Just four days after our Tuesday-night clash away to Weston-super-Mare sees our third game out of NINE scheduled this month, at home to 21st-placed St Albans City.
As their league position suggests, the gap between us and The Saints is a small one.
So small, in fact, that a goal difference of +3 is the only thing that separates both teams, following The Saints’ 99th-minute conceded goal to Chelmsford City earlier this week.
On the other side of the drop zone are Bath City, who are only four points ahead of us after their recent 3-0 loss to Slough Town.
So, with two of these teams embroiled in a survival stand-off this afternoon, this game truly is all to play for.
CLUB NEWS
Ahead of today’s feisty fixture, we released two breaking club statements yesterday.
The first was that we unfortunately said goodbye to stalwart striker Ezio Touray, who joined Poole Town yesterday on a permanent basis.
The Italian stallion, who so often produced big moments late on in games, left us with a goal tally of 17 goals in 55 games.
Even more impressive when considering that 31 of those games saw him come off the bench!
Ezio will leave us with some unforgettable memories, his last-minute New-Year’s-Day equaliser versus Weston-super-Mare and his chested half-volley away to Bath City naming just a couple.
Grazie, Ezio!
But, despite seeing our much-loved magic striker go, it is most certainly not all doom and gloom, as we have snapped up a player of theirs in return.
Jake McCarthy, if anyone remembers him!
Back until at least the end of next season, Jake captained us to back-to-back promotions in 2019 and 2020, with some of his screamers helping us along the way.
Re-uniting with Mark, he will certainly need no crash course on what it means to play in a Weymouth shirt!
LAST TIME ROUND
If our league positions aren’t an indicator of how lively today’s game will be, our last meeting certainly will be.
The most recent encounter also took place at our ground, in February this year, with just five of the starters (or six if Gerard Benfield still counts) from this game in our current squad.
Much like last season’s encounter with our most recent opponents, we were able to achieve a point at home in an end-to-end 3-3 draw.
However, this time the scoreline was secured in much more painful circumstances.
Seasoned striker Shaun Jeffers scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season in quick succession shortly before the half-hour mark to cancel out Brandon Goodship’s opener.
But, just as The Saints looked set to take all the glory, Michael Johnson disastrously spilled the ball into the path of former-loanee Nazir Bakrin, who poked home with five minutes to go.
If that wasn’t enough reason to celebrate, Tom Bearwish swung the ball into the head of Charlie Rowan, who gave us the lead right before stoppage time.
Then, before we knew it, we were now in the 95th minute leading 3-2.
Surely that would be it, right?
Well, it may have been if Zane Banton didn’t find himself in acres of space with only Gez in front of him, as he blasted home at the back post to salvage The Saints.
But if that wasn’t heartbreaking enough for us, Saints substitute Jake Burger lofted Gez to give his side the full feast of three points.
Fortunately, though, the offside flag was raised and the players headed down the tunnel sharing the points.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Despite what our last meeting suggests, a draw is not all too common when The Terras and The Saints face off.
In 24 games, just four of those have seen us share points, the other matches seeing us share wins, both with 10 each.
Could go either way, right?
Well, our wins have failed to take place in our last five encounters, with the Hertfordshire hopefuls very much boasting the upper hand.
Though not all is doom and gloom, as if there is one person who knows how to beat today’s opponents, it’s the man leading our dugout, who during our second successive promotion season led us to two 4-1 wins!
First in the league in September 2019, where we “sent [our] away support into ecstasy” at Clarence Park, our “new” boy Jake adding the fourth deep into stoppage time.
But if that wasn’t enough, the magic midfielder was on the scoresheet again the following month in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round, netting our second from the penalty spot to inflict another despairing 4-1 defeat on our sorry opponents
A sign of things to come today, perhaps!
HOW TO FOLLOW
We are pleased to announce that Robert Santonna will be back in the commentary booth this evening; click HERE to access his in-game thoughts.
Live updates will also be posted on our social media accounts; footage and reaction will also be uploaded after the final whistle.
OTHER FIXTURES
If you haven’t learnt already, you can never fully take your eyes off this league.
A total of 11 other matches are being battled out across this division today, with a couple of local clashes and potential upsets along the way.
