Phillips miss costly as Terras crash out
by Matt Pitman

2nd February 2004

Weymouth's FA Trophy dreams were sunk in the mud at the Wessex Stadium.

Despite the Terras being many pundits' tip for a trip to Villa Park in May, it was Altrincham who won a place in the last 16 after surviving a second half onslaught from the Dr Martens Premier Division leaders.

Try as they may, the normally prolific strike partnership of Steve Claridge and Lee Phillips just couldn't breach the Cheshire side's superb defence who spent all afternoon snapping at their opponents heels.

In the end the mid-table Unibond Premier Division outfit fully deserved their victory, but things could have been very different had Phillips not missed a sitter to equalise midway through the second half.

A team of around 40 volunteers, including Terras chairman Ian Ridley, worked for over four hours forking the pitch before the tie to get the game on.

But after the defeat, they must have thought their efforts had been wasted.

The conditions were so bad the two sides warmed up for the contest on the training pitch at the rear of the stadium to protect the playing surface.

The wind was always going to be a major factor and Weymouth struggled to get to grips with the gluepot pitch in a scrappy opening half.

They were made to pay for their slow start when Altrincham went ahead with the first incident of note just nine minutes in.

A poor clearance by the otherwise excellent loan defender Robbie Pethick fell to superb Robins skipper Ian Craney.

He released Gary Scott to send over a deflected cross for Stuart Wright to head past keeper Jason Matthews from close range.

The eager visitors harried and scrapped for every loose ball to protect their lead, with the hard-working Craney leading by example.

Weymouth's neat and tidy football was not paying off as they became frustrated.

Their best opening before the break came when a neat build up involving Ian Hutchinson and Claridge ended with Phillips powering through.

The former Plymouth Argyle man looked odds on to score but instead squared for Claridge only for visiting defender Gary Talbot to clear.

Substitute Luke Nightingale was thrown into the fray at the interval which helped shake Weymouth up.

Pethick had a powerful driven free-kick go close, before a Paul Buckle shot looped off Claridge and arched just over.

The Terras wasted a glorious chance to get back on terms when Buckle sent Claridge away.

He beat Altrincham keeper Stuart Coburn to a loose ball, squared for Phillips who could only fire wide with an empty net gaping.

Altrincham continued to scrap and battle for everything and it took a superb block by Pethick to deny Marcus Hallows from making it two.

Midfielder Lee Philpott was thrown on after returning from injury to step up the pressure for Weymouth but the former Leicester City man could not make an impact.

After weathering the storm for much of the second half, the visitors killed off the tie with a swift raid on 72 minutes. Craney, so often the source of promising moves for the Robins, slipped in Hardy down the left channel.

He took a couple of strides before keeping his cool to chip Matthews from close range.

Now two down, Weymouth threw caution to the wind and went all out in a bid to find a way back.

Philpott had a spectacular volley tipped over by Coburn as Altrincham hung on for dear life.

But the home side's lacklustre afternoon was summed up in stoppage time.

Nightingale skipped down the right before sending over a swirling cross for Buckle.

The midfielder looked odds on to net from six yards, but lost his footing at the vital time and the chance went begging.