A tale of two goalkeepers
by Steve Dadd & Pete Pavey

21st October 2001

Weymouth lined up against Crawley for the second time in eight days, but without Matthew Hale and the Rowbotham brothers, and with Simon Browne on the bench with heavy stitching above his left eye from injuries received after last week's encounter.

As expected, Crawley came at Weymouth from the off, out to avenge their defeat of last week. Ryan Cross made a great sliding tackle on Warren Bagnall as he ran clear into the box after two minutes. Then Danny Potter was cruelly denied the chance to save a penalty two minutes later after Crossy handled in the box, Mr. Bottomer waving play on.

Phillips and Parker combined well down the left flank, tormenting the home side. The hard working Hutchinson found Parker with a super 30 yard pass, Parker drove at the Crawley goal, beating two players on the way, his stinging shot was well saved by Andy Little.

Ian Hutchinson made a storming run after 24 minutes. His cross to the far post picked out Phillips, but Lee failed to make a solid connection.

 Aware of Hutchinson's playmaking, Crawley's Danny Carroll, took it into his own hands (or boots) with a vicious two-footed tackle on Hutch. He was lucky to just received a yellow card.

With half-hour gone, Hutchinson again made a dazzling run, to the bye-line, his searching cross was pushed away for a corner. 

Weymouth were not having it all their own way though as, on 35 minutes,  Bagnall headed just wide. Three minutes later it was Danny Potter's turn to prove his glovemanship, his superb one handed save denying Danny Carroll's stinging shot.

At the other end, Hutchinson's cross found Lee Phillips whose volley screamed over the bar.

The live wire Parker brought out another good save from Little after forcing his way into the box and then, from the ensuing corner, Phillips hit the ball over the bar. 
H-T: 0:0

Weymouth lost Kevin Parker in the second half with a hamstring injury, to be replaced by Simon Browne. Terras' worries were further deepened when Lee Phillips was crudely brought down and received lengthy treatment. However, Phillips continued and was put through by Mark Robinson (who had his by far best game of the season today), but Andy Little stood firm and stopped Lee Phillips' shot.

Play immediately turned to the other end, and with the ball in no man's land, Danny Potter raced out of his area, calmly beat Warren Bagnall, and then passed the ball upfield to Laws. That's how it's done Fabien!! 

Another Crawley name, this time skipper Luke Anderson, also went into the referee's book for a late tackle on Phillips.

Crawley thought they had scored in the 70 minute, but the referee had blown up for offside well in advance of the ball hitting the back of the net.

A Michael Dean free-kick just outside the area curled goalwards, but Andy Little plucked the ball out of the air.

Danny Potter further elevated his popularity with the Crawley faithful, getting down well to a Rob Collins shot.

Potter kept a clean sheet following a brilliant one handed save after Dave Harlow sweetly hit  the ball on the volley. With the clock running down, the diminutive Danny Bews, with the ink still wet on his contract, replaced Michael Dean.

Lee Phillips was through on goal, but again denied by Andy Little who smothered himself at the feet of the gap toothed Weymouth front man.