Match Preview
Weymouth travel to the midlands to take on Redditch United at the Trico Stadium on Saturday. Mark Molesley’s men need one more point to guarantee a playoff spot in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier League with five regular league games to play, however with positions to play for the Terras will be looking for their sixth win on the bounce.
Redditch currently sit in mid-table after an indifferent season for the club. Previous manager Darren Byfield was sacked back in December after a poor run of form for the reds. Since Byfield’s departure, experienced non-league Manager, Tim Harris has taken up the task of improving their fortunes but the inconsistency of results coupled with a run of games without a win up until a 1-0 home win against Royston Town on Wednesday will no doubt frustrate the Trico Stadium faithful.
Weymouth come into this game off the back of battering Gosport Borough 5-0 at the Bob Lucas Stadium on Monday afternoon. Striker Brandon Goodship got his goal tally for the season to an unbelievable 33 and he will be hoping to secure the leagues golden boot award and put our website editor under some extreme strain.
A five point lead means that Weymouth are unable to be caught by Kettering Town regardless of results this weekend, although the Poppies three games in hand will give Weymouth an incentive to keep the gap as wide as possible. King’s Lynn Town are four points ahead of the Terras meaning they can’t be caught this weekend.
Elsewhere in the top five, Hereford welcome Chesham United to Edgar Street, King’s Lynn Town are at home to Merthyr Town, Slough Town travel to Stratford Town and Kettering are away to Dunstable Town.
Current League Standings
| # | Team | Pl | HW | HD | HL | AW | AD | AL | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | Pts |
| 3 | Weymouth | 41 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 27 | 6 | 8 | 94 | 42 | 52 | 87 |
| 13 | Redditch United | 41 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 18 | 66 | 64 | 2 | 51 |
Team News
Mark Molesley is expected to welcome Calvin Brooks back after he missed the 5-0 win over Gosport.
News From The Terras
Speaking to theterras.com Paul Maitland said “We know if we go to Redditch and get a positive result then that will be the playoffs secure. They have changed their manager and Tim Harris is very experienced and Redditch have some good players in Morrell, Sammons and Stuart Fleetwood. I’m sure they will be keen to right the 5-0 defeat at our place.
“They are safe so will be looking at how to do things going into their league for next season. We will be looking at ourselves as usual and we are very confident as we look to extend our own unbeaten run”.
On the subject of the 3G pitch that Redditch play on, Maitland says the team is suited to playing on the surface. “The plastic pitches in the league are all different. Redditch’s pitch is only 2 years old and Slough’s is new as well whereas Merthyr have a slightly older pitch so they do play slightly differently. We have been fortunate with our own pitch and our pitch team have done a brilliant job.
“We know going to Redditch that our game will be on unless we get a massive snow fall. Other teams in the league are in difficult positions due to having to catch up with games.”
News From The Reds
Speaking to Redditch United’s official club site after defeats to Hereford and Chesham United, Tim Harris said “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We all know we are in the middle of a tough run of fixtures (four games in seven days), but other teams are going through similar patches of fixture congestion, so we cannot complain.
“Games against Chesham and Hereford, the team that I think will go up as worthy champions, were markers to show our credentials, but, unfortunately, we’ve fallen short of what I expect.”
“If we play on the front foot, score the first goal, then we are a likely to go on and put in a decent performance. We have the ability in the squad; however, it is a young and inexperienced one, too, which means our senior pros need to step-up and demonstrate more responsibilities.”
One to Watch
Stuart Fleetwood
Another familiar face for the Terras as they will find themselves up against last season’s top scorer Stuart Fleetwood, Stuart jointed Weymouth on loan from Bath City and topped the Terras’ goal-scoring charts last season with 19 goals. Fleetwood scored in midweek as he netted the winner against Royston Town, he also bagged a brace recently at Gosport Borough and will be looking for a late flurry of goals in a season which saw him start at Merthyr Town.
The Stats Say
Weymouth and Redditch United have met 13 time since 2011 with results being evenly shared between the two sides (W5 D4 L4).
Weymouth have outscored Redditch in the previous 13 meetings with the Terras scoring 21 goals to Redditch’s 12, Weymouth’s figure largely propped up with the 5-0 victory last December and a 4-0 victory at the Valley towards the end of the 2013/14 season.
Brandon Goodship has scored 14 goals in his last 13 games and sits 6 goals ahead of Hereford’s John Mills in the race for the golden boot.
Weymouth haven’t conceded in 372 minutes of play. The last time Weymouth kept 4 clean sheets in a row was between 20th March 2001 – 31st Match 2001 when Danny Potter kept clean sheets against Halesowen Town, Newport County, Fisher Athletic and Worcester City in the Southern League Premier Division.
Admission Info
Adults – £10
Concessions – £6
Children (Under 16s) – £2
Bromsgrove Road
Redditch
Worcs
B97 4RN
Last Time We Met
In the last meeting between the two sides, 23rd December at the Bob Lucas Stadium, Weymouth came out 5-0 winners. A hat-trick from Brandon Goodship and a goal apiece for Ben Thomson and Harry Baker completed the thrashing of a managerless Redditch United side.
The game was the 5th game of an unbeaten run which would extend to 10 matches.
Terras: Travers, Brooks, Sa, Zubar, Buckley (C), Carmichael (Ngalo 76), Davis, Thomson, Baker (Wakefield 69), Goodship (Rodriguez 83), Baggie
Subs not used: Wells, Boore
Redditch: Ross, Rosser, Fox, Mailancol (Belmonie 84), Stares, Pendley (C), Apostolopoulos (Hussain 63), De Veiga Monteiro, Angus, Sammons, Weir-Daley.
Subs not used: Jacobs, Coole, Jackman
Referee: Lee Rutter
Attendance: 627
Terras Man of the Match: Brandon Goodship
