Purgatory at Pirelli
By Echo Reporter

WEYMOUTH paid the penalty for not taking their chances as they were defeated in front of the Setanta Sports cameras in a Pirelli Stadium thriller last night.

In a game of missed penalties by both sides, the Brewers overturned a half-time deficit to repeat their win on their Setanta debut at the Wessex Stadium last August.

Terras' boss John Hollins reverted to a 4-5-1 system and made three changes to his starting XI.

Magnus Okuonghae and Nick Crittenden missed out due to injury and illness respectively, while young loanee Jake Hyde was dropped to the bench. Scott Doe, James Coutts and Franklin Anzite were the men called in.

Weymouth's other substitutes were Dave Roberts, Justyn Roberts, Simon Weatherstone and Michael Malcolm.

After Coutts had given the lead to the lively visitors, Albion pulled the points out of the fire with goals from former Terra John McGrath and John Brayford in a seven-minute spell in the second half.

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Burton's Keith Gilroy saw plenty of the ball in the opening stages and almost made it count in the 13th minute.

A fine Albion move was highlighted by Andy Corbett's superb crossfield pass that gave the winger the chance to cut inside and line up a shot that flew narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

It was the prelude to a spell in which Albion surrendered a tame goal and then squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to pull themselves level all in the space of two minutes.

The Terras snatched the lead out of the blue in the 18th minute.

Tony Bedeau's cross from the right seemed to carry little threat but a hesistant Brayford allowed Coutts to steal in front of him and lift a ten-yard shot over the stranded Saul Deeney.

Parity should have been quickly restored when referee Richard West awarded a penalty after spotting a shove by Terras' keeper Stephen Henderson on Daryl Clare.

Clare had never failed from the spot for Albion but this time he did as Henderson redeemed himself by diving to his right to make the save and then flung himself in the right direction to prevent Gilroy from blasting home the loose ball.

Henderson needed lengthy treatment after taking a knee in the face and lasted only ten more minutes before he had to go off suffering double vision.

The Terras worked hard to protect their lead, though Clare had a shot deflected wide and Jake Edwards should have done better than balloon a McGrath free-kick over the crossbar.

However, the real drama at the end of an absorbing first half came in the Burton penalty area.

Deeney spilled Stuart Beavon's shot and as Coutts tried to stab in the loose ball he was hauled down from behind by Brayford.

But the Brewers' keeper took a leaf out of Henderson's book by diving full length to keep out Franklin Anzite's tame penalty.

The Terras quickly had another opportunity to double their lead after a defence-splitting pass by Paolo Vernazza, but Anton Robinson rather made a mess of what looked a good scoring opportunity by trying to find Coutts.

Gilroy shot disappointingly wide just after the break following a move involving Edwards and McGrath, but the Terras continued to look anything but relegation fodder, with Coutts forcing a good save out of Deeney in the 50th minute.

Brayford went some way towards making amends for his first half lapses by producing a superb challenge to deny Robinson a shot on the edge of the area after a terrific piece of work by Beavon.

Just as Albion were starting to look short of ideas, McGrath pulled them level with his ninth goal of the season in the 68th minute.

Deeney's punt forward was flicked on by Clare and Goodfellow's decoy run made the space for McGrath to break into the area and produce an accomplished finish from 12 yards.

It had been a game of fits and starts and this latest burst of excitement culminated in Albion taking the lead through an unlikely source in the 75th minute.

After Clare's shot had been parried by substitute keeper Dave Roberts, Gilroy delayed his shot too long and was denied by a goal-line clearance.

But from the Irishman's resultant corner, Brayford soared at the far past to head home only the second league goal of his career.

Weymouth gamely tried to repair the damage but substitute Simon Weatherstone saw his free-kick deflect agonisingly the wrong side of a post before having a low shot saved by Deeney.