Just waiting for Christmas
by Steve Dadd & Pete Pavey

27th October 2002

It was a year ago to the day that United broke Terras' hearts with a dramatic 2-1 FA Cup fourth qualifying round victory at the Wessex Stadium. Twelve months later, the two sides were back in action, although this time in very different circumstances.

But despite this clash being billed as a Dr Martens Premier Division relegation dog-fight, the result was exactly the same. And success for the Knitters sees them leap-frog above Weymouth in the table, leaving their opponents in the drop-zone. For the first half-hour it looked like the struggling Terras would return from Leicestershire with three valuable points in the bag. 

They got off to a great start with Lee Phillips almost breaking the deadlock on four minutes with a deft chip that beat Azerbaijani international goalkeeper Farhad Afandiyev, but crashed into the side netting.

Julian Charles then saw an effort come back off the post and it was no surprise when, a minute later, the visitors took the lead. Alex Browne began the move with a long ball out of defence which Afandiyev failed to deal with on the edge of his area and in raced Phillips to bury the ball into the back of an empty net.

Weymouth were now in the ascendancy and Michael Dean was unlucky to see his blistering drive hit the backside of Andy Penny on the Hinckley line.

The hosts finally registered their first attempt on goal when a surperb ball from Stuart Storer split the Terras defence and Wayne Dyer ran on to blaze wide of the target from 15 yards.

Despite the miss, Hinckley's confidence began to grow and it took a good stop from Jason Matthews to deny former Chelsea and Brighton striker Zeke Rowe on 28 minutes.

But with brothers Simon and Alex Browne doing a fine containing job at the back, it was the Terras who went in leading at the break although David Sadler should have done better for United with a far post head on the stroke of half-time.

Hinckley continued to threaten following the restart and they eventually got back on level terms in the 51st minute.

Storer's cross from the left evaded a static Weymouth rearguard and Sadler was left with the simplest of tasks to nod home at the far post.

The visitors barely had time to recover from that set-back before finding themselves a goal down.

Sloppy defending allowed Dave Crowley to get in a cross from the right on 61minutes which fell to Dyer on the penalty spot. Alex Browne bravely blocked the midfielder's first strike, but Dyer's second effort clipped the Terras skipper's toe and deflected beyond a wrong-footed Matthews.

Weymouth heads dropped after that and manager Geoff Butler attempted to breathe life into his ailing side by introducing teenager John Lamb and Marc Whiteman into the fray. However, neither were able to make an impression despite a couple of spells of concerted pressure late in the game.

Phillips, Dean and Charles all went close for the visitors but it took a string of excellent saves by Matthews at the other end to prevent Hinckley from adding to their tally. And right at the death Ian Hutchinson was presented with a golden opportunity to rescue point for his team, a Deano corner was nodded toward the far post, Hutchinson raced in to tip the ball over the keepers head but agonsingly the bar from just six-yards out.