Harrold punishes depleted Terras
By Nigel Biddlecombe

Monday 31st July 2006

AN UNDER-STRENGTH Weymouth slipped to their third warm-up defeat in five games with a 3-0 reversal at the hands of Yeovil Town at the Wessex Stadium.

Missing injured quartet Dean Howell, Trevor Challis, Andy Harris and Steve Tully the Terras were always facing an uphill battle against their l dominant League One opponents.

The hosts started well when Ashley Vickers and Lee Elam r combined in the second L minute to force a corner, but Nick Crittenden's kick flew across the goalmouth and was cleared.

Just minutes later Nathan Jones was fouled by Richard , Logan, however the Yeovil full , back's free kick was headed clear by Simon Weatherstone.

Weymouth had a let off in t the sixth minute after Arron Davies fed Chris Cohen whose t cross was met by Matt Harrold.

But fortunately for s Garry Hill's side, the Yeovil e striker's header was easily gathered by Aaron Lee­ Barrett.

Two efforts within a minute caused Terras concern, but Wayne Gray's shot rebounded off Roy O'Brien and Anthony Barry saw his strike flyover the crossbar.

The Somerset side took the e lead in the 14th minute when Cohen found Matt Harrold who forced his way into the penalty area.

The ex-Brentrord man saw his first effort saved by Lee­ Barrett, but was able to net the rebound from 15 yards.

Barry was guilty of a glar­ing mistake just seconds later when ex-Terra Andy Linde­gaard put Cohen into space.

He then split the home defence with a superb ball only for Barry to miss his kick from close in.

Weymouth hit back when Vickers and Ben Smith com­bined to provide an opportu­nity for Weatherstone to get a shot in on 16 minutes, but his strike against his old club sailed wide of the upright.

Davies and Cohen had chances to increase Yeovil's lead before Gray broke down the left flank and provided a superb centre which saw Harrold head home his and the visitors second in the 31st minute.

With Yeovil well on top the Terras fought hard in defence to restrict the opposition to half chances as the half drew to a close.

The second period started slowly and was seven minutes old before the crowd saw the first real action when Simon Downer produced a terrific clearance to deny Cohen.

Elam, who was working hard to try and create oppor­tunities against his old team mates, did well to put Chukki Eribenne clear, but the Terras striker was let down by his control.

The hosts were fighting to match their opponents but too many balls were being given away and the speed of their opponents was proving a problem.

And then Downer, who was having a good game at right back, cleared twice within a minute to help keep the Glovers at bay.

Harrold completed his hat­trick in the 52nd minute after Cohen and Barry linked to provide Gray with the room to hit his cross into the danger area. Harrold reacted first to nudge the ball home.

Opportunities were few and far between after that with the visitors closing out for what was both a well-deserved and impressive success.