Terras slain by Dragons
By Nigel Biddlecombe
WEYMOUTH'S Blue Square Premier stay came to an end at the Racecourse
Ground, Wrexham, yesterday afternoon, but they did not go down
without a fight.
Despite losing Cameron Mawer (injured) and Kyle Critchell
(whose loan spell had ended) Marcus Browning and Jamie
Frampton taking their place the visitors showed plenty
of spirit.
From the start the home side showed their intentions with
their passing football, at one time stringing 18 passes together
in one move.
However their play initially lacked the cutting edge as the
Terras got men behind the ball keeping play away from the
danger zone.
In the seventh minute a corner from Jamie McCluskey was headed
over by Ashley Westwood, while Terras keeper Adam Legzdins
easily held a shot from Michael Proctor three minutes later.
Dominic Merella created an opening for Cliff Akurang at the
other end, but Chris Maxwell easily held the strikers
weak effort.
McCluskey and Darran Kempson both fired efforts over the
crossbar before Wrexham opened the scoring in the 30th minute.
McCluskeys corner was headed on by John Curtis to Proctor
who was given space and time to shot on the turn to beat Legzdins
from eight yards.
Within three minutes the Red Devils had doubled the advantage
after Sam Aiston had been allowed to advance unchallenged
through the visiting defence before firing his cross into
the penalty area. Ryan Flynn was also unchallenged as he steered
the ball home.
Just a minute later Weymouth had the chance to pull a goal
back when James Coutts intercepted a poor back pass by Kempson,
but his cross-shot rolled wide of the target.
Weymouth appealed for a penalty in the 39th minute after
Fola Onibuje had beaten Kempson to the ball and looked about
to shoot before being floored by the same player, however,
the referee waved away the Terras appeals.
The final action of the first period saw McCluskey shoot
wide after Aiston had played him in behind the visiting defence.
The introduction of Pierre Joseph-Dubois at half-time, for
the struggling Onibuje, saw Weymouth change to a 4-5-1 formation,
but the Frenchman lasted only nine minutes before he to left
the field injured to be replaced by Sam Cooke.
McCluskey started the second half as he had finished the
first with two efforts inside a couple of minutes. The first
being saved by Legzdins and the second flying over the bar.
As the Terras broke, Coutts was just unable to reach Merellas
cross which flew across the Wrexham penalty area and Ben Gill
shot weakly wide after Merella and Cooke had create an opening
for him on the edge of the area.
Wrexham began to move forward more as the game wore on and
Wey-mouth were grateful to Legzdins who saved well from Aiston
before he produced the save of the match in the 72nd
minute to brilliantly push Proctors close-range
header over the crossbar.
Gavin Hoyte did well to rob Flynn with a last-minute tackle
after the Wrexham man had managed to get in behind the Terras
defence reaching a long clearance from Maxwell, but the Terras
had Leg-zdins to thank one again when he saved well from Proctor
after Sam Cutler and Frampton had got in each others
way as they both attempted to clear.
As the match and the season drew to a close
Cliff Akurang and Cooke both brought Maxwell into action,
but the Terras were not able to reward their loyal fans with
a goal.
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