Bees stung by rampant Terras
by Matt Pitman

15th October 2003

Rampant Weymouth strolled to their maiden Two Counties Cup win with a 7-0 demolition of depleted Bridport last night.

A strong Terras line-up outclassed Pete Conning's depleted side from start to finish at the Wessex Stadium and had too much fire power for their lower league visitors.

Doubles from strikers Mark Robinson and Scott Partridge were added to by Lee Russell, Leon Green and Martin Barlow as Weymouth ran riot to end their four match losing streak.

But despite the hammering, Bees boss Conning was not too downhearted.

"We had a lot of young lads out there who will only benefit from the experience. We played some good stuff at times against a very strong Weymouth who, I have to say, looked a million times better than when we played them last season.

"Defeats like that are never nice but there are quite a few positives to take from it. I'm pretty certain our league game against Devizes on Saturday will be a lot easier than that."

Right from the off, Weymouth always looked like dominating things and so it proved.

The hosts took just 16 minutes to take the lead when Partridge was on hand to tap home after former Terra Martin Peters parried Barlow's drive straight into his path.

The ex-Rushden and Diamonds man impressed with some neat approach play but it was his strike partner Robinson who doubled Weymouth's advantage 12 minutes later.

The versatile 27-year-old gained possession just inside Bridport's half before leaving a trail of defenders in his wake and coolly slotting past the helpless Peters.

The one way traffic continued and although Weymouth lost influential midfielder Lee Philpott to an ankle injury, that setback failed to disrupt their rhythm.

Bridport, who took off defender David Newland in a shake up at the back, suffered wave after wave of home attack and Lee Russell made the game safe when he scampered forward from his left back position to combine with Partridge and slot home the striker's 38th minute cut back.

By now Bees fans must have been fearing a scoreline more suited to the Rugby World Cup, although Conning did muster their only real effort on goal when he drove a 20 free-kick at keeper Jason Matthews.

Half-Time: Weymouth 3 Bridport 0
 
Any hopes Bridport may have had of keeping things tight after the break were banished just 14 seconds into the second period as Robinson caught them cold and steamed in to drill low past Peters from a tight angle.

With the Bees defence and keeper Peters allowed little time to enjoy a well earned breather, number five soon arrived and it was one the visiting gloveman will want to quickly forget.

Substitute Leon Green worked some space down the left and let fly from 25 yards.

The fairly harmless shot looked destined for Peters arms, but bounced awkwardly just in front of the despairing keeper, over his head and into the net.

Even though they were by now five goals to the good, Weymouth continued to show little mercy.

Robinson wasted a great chance to grab his hat-trick when he steered Partridge's cross wide, and the latter notched his second soon after when he cracked a 25-yard shot past the over-worked Peters.

With home midfielder Martin Barlow pinging passes all over the park, more goals were always on the cards.

As it was though, the hosts had to be content with just one more and it was apt that it was Barlow who deservedly got his name on the sheet four minutes from time when he lashed home a loose ball from the edge of the box.

Terras assistant boss Gary Borthwick, in charge for the absent Steve Claridge, said: "Games like these are only as easy as you make them and the lads were totally professional in their performance against a side who Pete has got playing in the right manner.

"We knocked it around well and scoring seven times will obviously give us extra confidence ahead of our game at Worcester on Saturday.

"But what pleased me most was that the younger lads who came on like Kevin Gill, Leon Green and Nathan Walker fitted in superbly and certainly didn't look out of place.

"That certainly bodes well for the future and is what this competition is all about."