City slumped to their third successive 1-0 defeat at Milton Road and to make matters worse swapped places with lowly opponents Weymouth to stay rooted in the bottom four.
The Lilywhites welcomed Che Wilson back from suspension in a move which saw Matt Clements drop to the bench. The influential ex-Bristol Rovers skipper did not however fill his customary central midfield berth, lining up instead in a right sided wing-back role which saw City switch to a back three (Shane Wardley similarly deployed wide on the left).
The early exchanges centred mostly in the middle third of the pitch with neither side able to gain the initiative. Tim Wooding’s wayward long range drive on eight minutes illustrating the difficulty both sides were having creating any openings in the opposition’s final third.
City’s lack of early penetration could, in some part, be attributed to the fact that Darren Collins had clearly not shaken off the injury which caused his early withdrawal from last Saturday’s FA Trophy defeat at the hands of Crawley, on 15 minutes the skipper was replaced by Kevin Wilkin.
City’s first effort on target came on twenty minutes when Colin Vowden rose above the Terras’ defence to loop a reverse header from a Tim Wooding free kick towards Jason Matthews’ goal but failed to extend the former Exeter City stopper.
A minute later and Weymouth, in their first meaningful attack, almost snatched the lead. A raking right wing cross picked out Matt Hale on the left hand edge of the box. Hale drilled the ball low across the six yard box, picking out Lee Phillips who found himself in lots of space in front of goal, however there was too much pace on the ball for Phillips to bring it under control and the chance was gone.
Four minutes later and Steve Holden became the first player into referee Jones’ notebook. He caught Lee Phillips very late (the City defender having been felled by a loose elbow, which looked like it may have come from Phillips, a few minutes earlier), the Terras number 11 taking several minutes to fully recover.
Half an hour in and Wilkin, in his customary role with his back to goal won a free kick when he was held down some twenty five yards out. Adie Hayes made a good contact from his place kick but the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar. Four minutes later and it was Hayes again with the opportunity to strike at goal. On this occasion a neat lay of by Danny Bloomfield on the edge of the box played in the City no. 8 but his low shot failed to find it’s way through a sea of legs on the edge of the six yard box.
Almost immediately Weymouth broke away, but when an aimless through ball sailed over the head of Phillips there seemed to be no danger. However, City’s central defenders appeared slow to react, encouraging Phillips to chase the apparently lost cause. Martin Davies, who had initially hesitated, perhaps expecting his defenders to track back, suddenly found himself under pressure. Scampering towards the ball his attempted clearance screwed horribly off the outside of his boot, spinning straight up in the air and landing at the feet of the grateful Phillips who walked the ball into an empty net. There was an air of inevitability about the outcome from that moment, City having conceded unnecessary goals in each of their last two home matches and failing to find an equaliser on both occasions.
A well struck Wooding free kick gave City the chance to hit back within a minute but his effort dipped just over the bar. It appeared, at this stage, that a set piece was City’s best (possibly only) chance of getting back on terms.
Weymouth, confidence boosted by their unexpected opener began to pose more of a threat coming forward. Matt Hale was becoming increasingly influential on the left and on 39 minutes he combined with Matthews to play in Charles, with a good site on goal, however, Colin Vowden and Martin Davies between them did enough to force him to shoot over the bar.
As the half drew to a close, City strung together a decent passing move, Nightingale found Wilkin who laid the ball off to Willis who, in turn, rolled the ball into the path of Wardley. Although the City left back ultimately shot wide, the home side had at least created an opening by switching play from one flank to the other by a succession of neat passes.
This was as it turned out Shane Wardley’s last meaningful contribution. Although many City fans had anticipated a possible change at half time, David Batch waited until 53 minutes, at which point seeing the number three board held aloft, the Lilywhites’ left back disappeared down the tunnel to be replaced by Matt Clements.
The further change in formation necessitated by this switch seemed to unsettle the City defence. On 58 minutes they failed to deal with a routine goal kick punted straight down the middle of the park. Matthews capitalising on the confusion to play in Tully who rifled over the angle when well placed to test Davies. A minute later Mark Robinson dispossessed Vowden in the left back position and dragged a low centre back across the box, the ball eluded a retreating Matt Clements and landed at the feet of Ian Hutchinson, only another timely Steve Holden block preventing the Terras’ midfielder hitting the target.
With the introduction of Clements, City managed to make some progress on the right hand side. On the hour mark a Wooding through ball picked out Adie Hayes, who in turn ran aggressively at the Weymouth back line, beating one man, before being halted on the edge of the box. Two minutes later Holden, now playing on the right of the back three, played a lofted ball over the top of the defence for Clements to run on to. Controlling the ball skilfully on the top of his boot the pacey wing man cut the ball back from the by-line, his centre skidding agonisingly across the face of the goal with no-one on hand to apply the finishing touch.
With 65 minutes gone Charles was very late on Holden who required fairly extensive treatment. The City central defender was deemed fit to carry on but seemed visibly slowed by the heavy knock.
As the game entered it’s final quarter, Bloomfield who again showed good quality on the all too rare occasions he was fully involved played in Hayes down the inside left channel. Hayes delivered an out-swinging cross which was met by the advancing Clements but he was only able to head over.
There followed a niggling couple of minutes which firstly saw Wilson carded for a late challenge on Alex Browne. City’s uncompromising midfielder was on the receiving end moments later when felled by Ryan Ashford who also saw yellow.
City were beginning to carve out half chances as the game wore on, 75 minutes in Wilkin, dropping deeper, turned in centre field and fed Clements wide on the right. Advancing at pace Clements whipped in a low cross which saw a first time effort from Danny Bloomfield forced behind, from the resultant Hayes corner Matthews fumbled but disappointingly no-one was on hand to capitalise.
Weymouth were however able to counter effectively, primarily looking to work the ball out to the left where both Simon Browne and Hale got forward to good effect, often pegging both Wilson and Clements back as they were called into defensive action. On 76 minutes it was Hale again, making full use of the width of the pitch who picked out Charles, capitalising on the space left by City’s search for an equaliser. The Weymouth striker snatched at a very presentable opportunity however and the ball sailed harmlessly wide.
With five minutes to go City again probed down their right. Willis found Wilson who sprayed the ball wide to Clements, cutting inside the City substitute ran at Simon Browne forcing the full back to pull him down on the edge of the box, presenting City with another dead ball opportunity and earning himself a card. As Tim Wooding stepped up there was a sense that this could be the last chance to salvage something from the afternoon. Wooding chose to go hard and low, it was a good effort but a deflection saw he ball go behind for a corner.
With barely a minute to go Richard Skelly replaced Hayes. Inevitably City were now stretched at the back as they pushed forward. Another whipped cross from Hale found Ryan Ashford who in turn fed Charles, one on one with Davies, the Weymouth striker spurned the chance to put the result beyond doubt by lashing the ball wide of goal.
Weymouth brought on two substitutes to ensure the clock kept ticking inevitably towards the final whistle. Firstly Michael Dean replaced Ashford, closely followed by Marc Whiteman who came on for Charles. There was yet another chance for Weymouth to double their lead between these changes when Robinson shot wide from yet another Hale centre.
City won two more free kicks as the game entered stoppage time. Both were awarded in quick succession on the edge of the box. Tim Wooding picked out Steve Holden with the first but he was unable to get any power in his header and Matthews saved comfortably. Weymouth then inexplicably conceded again in an almost identical position. This time Skelly opted to shoot but Simon Browne was on hand to clear convincingly.
The final whistle sounded moments later leaving City to ponder how to arrest an alarming slide which has seen them fail to record a league win for more than two months ahead of two more ‘six pointers’ against similarly placed opposition on the next two Saturdays.
