Hawks swoop on vulnerable Terras
By Matt Pitman

Monday 9th January 2006

GARRY Hill must fear the rival 21 Conference South managers placed a curse on

him at the turn of the year. How else do you explain the down-turn in Weymouth's fortunes during the first few days of 2006?

Everything was ticking along nicely with ten league wins on the bounce, then suddenly the seemingly invincible Terras became vulnerable once again.

This setback at new table-toppers Havant and Waterlooville, their second successive defeat, means Weymouth dropped to third in the league.

If the scoreline at West Leigh Park was bad enough for Hill, the manner of the setback was all the more frustrating for the Terras boss.

Everything that could go wrong for the Wessex Stadium outfit did in Hampshire.

Just like their previous outing against Dorchester Town, Weymouth lost two players to injury during the first half.

The visitors' misery worsened when Kirk Jackson was a whisker away from an equaliser, only for his rocket shot to cannon off the bar.

Then, less than 60 seconds later, the Hawks swept down the other end for Neil Sharp to head home a decisive second.

Chukki Eribenne pulled one back for the Terras before visiting fans were fuming with referee Paul Norman for turning down the same player's stoppage time penalty appeal.

Weymouth's woes were immaterial to Havant who celebrated toppling their south coast rivals to ensure the promotion race is well and truly back on.

The visitors were without hamstring victim Lee Elam while new signing John McGrath sat out through a one-match suspension picked up playing in Ireland.

Havant, who have been superb at home this season, should have gone ahead within three minutes. Strikers Rocky Baptiste and Carl Wilson-Denis combined for the former to race through a static away backline but plant his close range
effort just the wrong side of the post. The home side went one better four minutes later with a goal that had Terras boss Hill fuming.

After a visitors' clearance had gone out of play, alert ex-Terra Tony Taggart obtained another ball and took a quick throw in.

He released Jamie Collins who found Wilson-Denis and his crisp turn and shot beat Weymouth keeper Jason Matthews all ends up. Hill greeted the goal with a torrent of abuse towards referee Norman, citing his earlier complaints about the multi-ball use, and the boss was ordered to leave the dugout.

Play was held up for five minutes by the fussy official as Hill walked around the outside of the pitch and back to the away dressing room.

Losing their manager seemed to fire up the Dorset outfit as Jackson headed just wide, then later had a powerful drive blocked by Hawks skipper Tom Jordan.

Shaun Wilkinson became the latest Weymouth injury victim when he limped off with a hamstring strain against his former club on 24 minutes.

With Baptiste and particularly Wilson-Denis dangerous, Weymouth's defence were often at full-stretch and were grateful when the latter's curler flashed inches wide.

The first of the visitors' penalty appeals fell on deaf ears when Brian Dutton's shot appeared to strike the arm of the superb Tom Jordan.

There was another reshuffle in the visitors' ranks when winger Steve Clark suffered an ankle injury after being caught late by Luke Byles just before the break.

On a bitterly cold afternoon, there was still time before the much-needed half-time cuppa for Havant's

Taggart to go close and Sharp to have a header pushed over by Matthews.

Weymouth pushed on in search of an equaliser after the restart and nearly got back on terms through Jackson's deflection of Harris shot from range.

Defensively the introduction of Simon Downer at right back gave them extra bite and he showed his worth with a good interception on Baptiste.

After both teams had a couple of tame efforts on goal, the defining few moments of the match arrived on 65 minutes.

Jackson came inches away from ending his barren spell when he seized on a loose ball inside the area.

His first shot cannoned off a defender only to fall kindly for him to have a second bite of the cherry which agonisingly thumped against
the bar.

The visiting fans hardly had time to draw breath before their side were two down.

Sharp rose above his marker, ironically Jackson, to send a well-placed header from Jamie Collins' free kick into Matthews net.

Baptiste nearly embarrassed Weymouth with a third for Havant before the visitors threw on an extra attacker, Craig O'Connor, to try and salvage some pride.

The switch did the trick as with five minutes left former Hawk Eribenne escaped the home defence to tuck home from close range following Darren Wheeler's left wing corner.

The goal ensured a nervy few closing minutes for the home side who until Eribenne's strike were seemingly coasting to the points.

Substitute O'Connor nearly salvaged a point when he cut in from the left and fired a well-struck shot straight at keeper Gareth Howells.

Then deep into stoppage time, came the disputed decision that incensed the away fans.

O'Connor and Jackson combined to release Eribenne who galloped into the six-yard box and appeared to get to the loose ball a fraction before Howells.

The challenge sent the striker tumbling to the turf but referee Norman shook his head and booked Eribenne for diving to the fury of the visitors.