Hill's ref fury
By Adam Summers

Monday 1st January 2007

WEYMOUTH boss Garry Hill was disappointed with the per-formance of referee Steve Tomlinson after his side's 1-0 defeat against Stevenage Borough at the Wessex Stadium but he had no com-plaints about the result.

The Hampshire-based official dished out seven yellow cards and failed to award the Terras what Hill thought was a certain penalty when Ben Smith was upended by Ronnie Henry in the box in the first half.

Hill said: "The referee was the only one in the ground who did not see the foul in the box on Ben Smith and it was embarrassing. You have to get on with that sometimes but it was a big decision early on in the game at 0-0 when we were very much in control

"Ten or 15 minutes after that they scored and we found ourselves 1-0 down at half-time. We huffed and puffed a lot in the second half, and Jason Matthews made a couple of great saves for us but in the end I have no complaints about the result."

Of Tomlinson's performance, Hill added: "It was frustrating for every-body in the ground today to see a situation where somebody has basically tried to be the main attraction instead of letting the two teams try and play in what were awkward conditions. I thought the referee was the worst one we have seen down here."

The wind and rain did not help the Terras during the game but Hill refused to make excuses for the fact that his side failed to have a single shot on target during the 90 minutes.

He said: "The conditions were not ideal but it was the same for both sides. We did not create enough today and were second best.

"Stevenage are going well at the moment and you have to give them credit but I would not swap their position for ours at the minute."

The loss was a disappointing way to end 2006 for the Terras but Hill will not be dwelling on the result.

He said: `:At the end of the day if someone had told us at the beginning of the season that we would win nine and draw two out of 13 home games going into the New Year we would have took it. If someone had told us that we would be sitting where we are now we would have taken it.

"We have done brilliantly. You can have days where things don't go your way but we have had a great first half of the season. I have got no complaints with anything. And i do not think the supporters, myself or the chairman could ask for more from the football team than the work they have shown together off the pitch and in regards to the position we currently are in the league - it is brilliant."

The fourth-placed Terras travel to struggling Forest Green Rovers today looking to regain third spot.

Hill said: "Forest Green will be tricky. They are fighting for points but we have got to go there and try and bounce straight back with three points.