Forget the Play-Off's, Can the Terras Avoid Relegation?
By Matt Pitman

Monday 21st March 2005

TERRAS chief Martyn Harrision is expected to start interviewing candidates for his club's vacant manager's post this week.

And judging by this display against struggling Newport County, an appointment can't come quick enough.

One word sums up Weymouth's performance against the Exiles - woeful!

Still smarting following the midweek sacking of boss Steve Johnson, the Terras produced one of their worst Wessex Stadium showings in living memory.

Inept in all departments, the talk on the terraces after Jason Bowen's 45th minute goal had condemned the hosts to a sixth successive defeat, was no longer about making the Conference South play-offs, but avoiding relegation.

County keeper Nathan Vaughan hardly had a thing to do on his debut as the Welshmen claimed maximum points to aid their own bid to beat the drop.

And what former Northern Ireland striker Jimmy Quinn - a front-runner for the job - must have been thinking watching from the directors' box was probably unprintable.

This time last season Weymouth were duelling with Crawley Town at the top of the Dr Martens Premier Division.

But those heady days seem like a distant memory for the Wessex Stadium faithful whose team are now just seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Keen to impress, caretaker boss Gary Borthwick recalled out-of-favour midfielder Ian Hutchinson and had Kirk Jackson back in his line-up following suspension.

But the return of the former Yeovil Town striker failed to change shot-shy Weymouth's recent ways.

It took 21 minutes for the hosts to try their luck and even then Vaughan comfortably dealt with midfielder Brian Dutton's daisy cutter.

Newport, with loan striker and one time Terras target Cortez Belle leading the line, played the better football and pressed for an opener.

After losing former Magpie Scott Morgan to injury early on, replacement midfielder Tom Hooper impressed.

The 16-year-old was instrumental for the Welsh side and he was involved in setting up Belle to draw a good save from
Matthews.

Things got only mildly better for Weymouth as Mark Boyce wildly sliced wide from a promising position and Ludovic Cadima fired over after robbing last-man Matthew Morris.

The former Anderlecht youngster then went close with a low drive after Vaughan's punch from Darren Wheeler's corner, while Jackson nodded wide from close range.

Goal hero Bowen nearly put the visitors ahead on 32 minutes when Matthews flung out a hand to divert his header from Chris Curran's long throw.

But the former Birmingham City winger made no mistake seconds before the interval, planting a close-range header home after Belle nodded on Darren Jones' deep free kick.

If things were bad for Weymouth before the break, they were arguably even worse after the half-time cuppa.

Midfielder Danny Byrne replaced the ineffective Mark Boyce but the change failed to pep up the lifeless hosts.

Cadima worked himself into some space for a sniff of a chance but good defending from Andrew Thomas shut the door on the diminutive frontman.

Newport should have sealed the points with 20 minutes left.

Thomas rose highest to bullet Bowen's curling free kick goalwards but held his head in his hands as the ball cannoned off Matthews' crossbar.

Darren Jones blazed the rebound over the top.

The visitors, roared on by a handful of rowdy shirtless male fans, began to sit back and sensed victory was in their grasp.

Hutchinson was denied by a decent block by Curran late on while.
Wheeler's tame curler didn't really trouble Vaughan.

With disillusioned fans streaming through the turnstiles, Cadima wasted Weymouth's last chance for a point in stoppage time after breaking the offside trap.

But the ball bounced up near the edge of the area giving defender Darren Jones time to get back and nick possession.

The final whistle was met with boos from the home faithful and a handful of angry fans protesting at chairman Martyn Harrison.

Weymouth : Jason Matthews, Dave Waterman, Charlie Welch, Roy O'Brien, Matt Bound, Brian Dutton, Mark Boyce, lan Hutchinson, Kirk Jackson, Ludovic Cadima, Darren Wheeler.

Subs : Simon Browne, Danny Byrne (for Boyce 48mins), Kieren Keane (for Waterman 63mins), Shaun Wilkinson, Francisco Ramos.
Newport:

Newport County : Nathan Vaughan, Matthew Morris, Scott Morgan, Nathan Davies, Andrew Thomas, Darren Jones, Chris Curran, Ashley Williams, Cortez Belle, Jason Bowen, Jeff Eckhardt

Subs : Jamie Moralee (for Belle 89mins), Justin Tyrell, Nicky Harrky, Tom. Hooper (for Morgan 10mins), Andrew Delve.

Bookings:

Weymouth : Hutchinson foul

Newport County : Belle foul, Thomas foul

Referee : Kevin Haines (Reading)