No joy at Phillips joy
by Steve Dadd & Pete Pavey

12th March 2003

Geoff Butler's injury hit Weymouth side was given the boost of Steve Tully passing a late fitness test with Laws and Redwood available for selection. Lined up against relegation certainties Ilkeston Town, Weymouth only needed to field a team, with the inclusion of David Laws and the three points were theirs.

Weymouth started as bright as the moon overhead with Alex Browne out-jumping the visitors' defence to head over from Ryan Ashford's chipped cross and David Laws missed a great opportunity when he failed to get a sixth minute free header on target from six yards.

But as Ilkeston began to find their feet Aaron O'Connor and Leon Kelly contrived to rob one another of a close range chance when Lever nodded a free kick from the wiley Tony Hemmings across the goalmouth. Then when Hemmings split the Terras defence with a clever through ball, Simon Browne stepped in to rob Kelly with a timely tackle.

Phillips miskicked completely when the home side made a rare half chance on the half hour and Ilkeston continued to look the more dangerous side with Chris Freestone holding off Ashford's challenge and blasting across the face of the goal a minute later.

A game littered with mistakes was crying out for a modicum of quality - and Ilkeston's Kelly came up with the goods a minute before the break.

Slipping past Robinson's lunge near the halfway line, he raced clear down the left and cut into the area before forcing a diving parry from Matthews. O'Connor crashed the loose ball goalwards but Matthews again saved superbly only for the ball to rebound again to the visitor's striker who made no mistake with his second chance.

A barren first 15 minutes after the break prompted manager Geoff Butler to replace Laws and the disappointing Ashford (who with the fit again Redwood on the bench was the obvious replacement) with Leon Green and Marc Whiteman and almost immediately Phillips had a gilt-edged opportunity to level.

For once centre backs Mark Lever and Barry Woolley failed to deal with a long ball from Simon Browne and Phillips nipped past them into the box.

He had only Love to beat, but his telegraphed effort was well read and a lack of pace gave the Ilkeston gloveman enough time to make a sprawling stop.

Whiteman skewed another chance off target and Ilkeston would have put themselves in the comfort zone but for Matthews fingertip save from Kelly after 81 minutes and Robinson's goal-line clearance from Woolley a minute later.

It was all one way traffic as the lightweight Green tussled with the ogreous Ilkeston rearguard but for all the Terras possession, they kept playing to the visitors strengths with high balls that were gratefully gobbled up and recycled.

With the Terras desperation increasing, they launched one last bid to pull something out of the bag. Sullivan saw his first-time shot from Tully's cross drift over Love's head and bounce back off the crossbar before Phillips at last gave a fractious home crowd something to smile about.

A Tully throw in from the right identified Sullivan, he jinked his way into the box and sent his far post cross to Phillips, the gap toothed Cornishman had no time to think and just hit the ball first time on the volley from 10 yards, almost in the back of the net before it had left his boot. Those Terras faithful that had stayed to endure the whole match cheered firstly at the spectacle of the goal and only secondly for getting out of jail as this was most undeserved.