Match Report

Weymouth kicked off, in bright sunshine, and were soon setting the pace. The Terras won the first corner (7 mins) but when they won their second, Coburn was booked for protesting that he had kept Lane's block in play (9 mins). As Alty continued to stutter, Williams on the left and Beavon, up front, were keeping Alty's defence busy. And, in midfield, it was Weymouth's McPhee who was impressing. Up front, Senior and Little were not seeing much of the ball and spent quite a bit of the first half helping out midfield and defence.

When a Doughty clearance went to Williams, he crossed for McPhee, who headed narrowly wide (17 mins). Alty half threatened when Danylyk and Little got the ball through for Senior to chase but Doe cleared well as Senior and Knowles collided, the keeper needing treatment before resuming (18 mins). Dubois then wasted an opening before Beavon fired narrowly wide after getting past Elam inside the box (22 mins). Another home corner followed. The pitch seemed to be greasy as players from both sides slipped at regular intervals and play went through a poor spell which silenced the crowd. Alty manager, Graham Heathcote asked his players "Have we got to wait till we concede before we wake up?" (28 mins).

But Alty's under-par performance continued as Mawer was allowed to advance 40 yards up the right before firing wildly over the bar (32 mins). Next, a slick move out of defence by Dubois, Cutler and Beavon ended with the last-named firing narrowly wide (35 mins). The respite was short. From a quickly-taken throw, on their left, Weymouth's Beavon relayed the ball into the area, where McPhee slid in with a defender to poke the ball into the net to give his side a deserved lead (36 mins).

As predicted by their manager, the goal did prompt some response from Altrincham. They won their first two corners, in quick succession. From Elam's second corner, Young rose well but his firm header bounced out off the underside of the bar and Little was only able to nod the rebound to Knowles (39 mins). Williams then fired a superb 25-yarder narrowly wide only for Mr Martin, surprisingly, to award a corner. Following this, Dubois shot narrowly wide (41 mins). Next, Young had to head Williams's shot over his own bar for another corner from which Coburn held McPhee's header on the line. Alty's keeper had to make another good save from Reed (42 mins) before Chris Lane was booked for a lunge (44 mins).

With the game into two minutes of added time, a foul on Little yielded a freekick 45 yards out, taken by Lane. This was relayed left by Danylyk to Elam and his fine cross found Little unmarked, six yards from goal, but Alty's top-scorer lifted his left-footed effort disappointingly over the bar with his 100th goal in Alty colours beckoning (45+2 mins). So a half dominated by Weymouth which could have ended 3-0 to the home side, concluded with Alty having chances to snatch a 2-1 lead.

Play resumed with Weymouth still setting the pace but without any clear chances. Young then won a corner, at which point Johnson came on for Senior, the fourth official making a complete hash of displaying the number-board twice (53 mins). Johnson soon made an impression, battling to win possession well and prompting Alty to their best spell of the game. From Lane's cross from the right, Little executed a superb bicycle kick whicn Knowles saved well (57 mins). With Alty looking as if they might yet salvage something from this game, Peyton came on for Lane, with Densmore moving to right-back (64 mins).

Two minutes later, Weymouth made two changes; Robinson and Malcolm replacing Cutler and Dubois (66 mins). Coburn then had to rush out to clear before Peyton was bundled over as he went for a header in the Weymouth box by Mawer without any response from the referee.

"How much do you want it?", Alty's boss asked his men, adding that "It won't just happen by itself!" Once again full-back Mawer advanced up the right but again fired wildly over the target (73 mins). Coburn then stretched well to tip away a looping Beavin header. For Alty, Johnson continued to look lively but Weymouth won the game's next corner (77 mins). Luke Waterfall, on loan from Tranmere Rovers, now came on for his debut at centre-back, replacing Doughty (79 mins). Young was now pushed up front.

Robinson then missed badly after getting past a defender and Coburn. But Weymouth sealed victory when Robinson breached Alty's defence again and, though Coburn came to the front edge of his box to smother the ball, he could not hold it and Williams put the ball into the empty net (83 mins). Coburn prevented further damage as he beat out a fierce shot from the right by Malcolm (85 mins). Waterfall then did well to see off Beavon. Soon afterwards, whilst Doe was receiving treatment, Reed was booked, presumably for dissent. Alty were not now causing any real threat but, as the game entered four minutes of added time, Beavon was silly enough to get booked for kicking the ball into the net after an offside decision. Bygrave replaced Man of the Match Williams, who left to generous applause, (90+3 mins) before proceedings ended, with Alty's surge up the table having been halted.