Shay surrender
By Dave Fletcher

Wednesday 21st February 2007

Weymouth took a second minute lead at the Shay through Stuart Beavon but ended the game with nine men and well beaten.

The Terras, looking to end a run of seven Conference games without a win,
were unable to build on their near perfect start.

And their woes were compounded when Ashley Vickers and Conal Platt both saw red – along with Town’s Tyrone Thompson – after tempers flared in stoppage time.

Beavon fired Weymouth ahead when he pounced to fire the ball home after home keeper Craig Mawson had only parried Simon Weatherstone’s well-struck long-range effort.

And the visitors looked comfortable as the Shaymen, looking to record back-to-back league wins for only the third time this season, struggled to summon any kind of response in the opening half-hour.

They even managed to get the ball in the net for a second time after 24 minutes, but Platt was offside when he applied the finish after another Mawson fumble.
Weatherstone tried to capitalise on the home keeper’s inability to hold on to the ball with a free-kick from fully 40 yards, but Mawson held on.

The home side had to rely on a moment of magic from Felix Bastians, on loan from League One Nottingham Forest, for the equaliser in the 33rd minute, the Germany under 19 international

creating space for himself on the edge of the area before curling a shot beyond the reach of the keeper.

Cruised

But it was a different story in the second half as Town took control and eventually cruised home.

The Terras fell behind five minutes after the break when Neal Trotman fired home from close range.

And Bastians was only denied his second by a fine near post save from Jason Matthews moments later.

Daniel Phillips and Jason Tindall both flashed shots over the top when well placed before Halifax extended their lead in the 63rd minute.

There was an element of controversy about the goal with the linesman raising his flag to indicate offside against Lewis Killeen but the referee waving play on as Bastians took possession of the ball.

Bastians cut in from the left wing before cutting the ball back for the unmarked Gus Uhlenbeek who fired home.

A couple of Weatherstone efforts failed to trouble Mawson before the Terras were thrown a potential lifeline as Trotman brought down Beavon in the area as the striker cut in from the right.

But player-manager Tindall was unable to capitalise as he chipped the 88th-minute spot-kick over the bar.

Halifax rubbed salt into Weymouth’s wounds within a couple of minutes as Danny Forrest’s surging run caught the visitors napping and when the ball broke to Uhlenbeek he completed the scoring, rolling the ball into an empty net.

The game ended on a sour note with a real scrum of players inside the centre circle following a Vickers’ challenge on Thompson.

Both were shown straight red cards as was Platt for something he did in the aftermath.