Wozza shatters Glassboys
By Adam Summers
WARREN Byerley exorcised the demons of his double penalty miss
at Frome Town on Boxing Day as the Terras ended their four-game
losing streak with a dramatic victory at the War Memorial Athletic
Ground last night.
The Weymouth striker went into the clash with Stourbridge
having not found the net in his last seven outings but he
brought that barren spell to an end by equalising from the
spot with a confident penalty in the second half.
He then went on to hit the winner with five minutes remaining
to wrap up the scoring after Aaron Drake had put the Glassboys
ahead with a controversial opener in the early exchanges.
The league defeat is Stourbridges first at home this
season and Terras boss Brendon King was justifiably
over the moon afterwards.
He said: Stourbridge are a very good side and before
this game they had only conceded eight at home, so to travel
four hours on a bitterly cold night and pick up the three
points, under the pressure of having lost our last four, just
goes to show what character the lads have.
At one stage I did think it was going to be one of
those nights again but the boys kept going and in the end
their tremendous commitment was rewarded and I am absolutely
delighted for them.
It has been a difficult few weeks but we can now take
heart from this result and hopefully start to look to push
on again.
With loanee Byron Napper having returned to Crawley Town
and Sam Malsom at the Avenue Stadium tying up a move to Dorchester
Town, King was left with limited options ahead of kick-off,
particularly with Tom Manley, Richard Marshallsay and Lewis
Tasker all unable to travel.
Ollie Tribe and Scott Dixon were restored to the starting
line-up with Ryan McKechnie dropping to the bench where he
was joined by reserve-team rookies Chris Povall, Charlie Holland
and Luke Winsper.
King also named himself among the substitutes while Stephen
Reed retained his starting place after turning down the opportunity
to follow Malsom to the Magpies the previous night.
Despite having survived a midday pitch inspection, the playing
conditions were still tricky in the near freezing temperatures
and once again Lady Luck was not on the Terras side
in the early exchanges as the Glassboys grabbed a questionable
opener after just 10 minutes.
Leon Broadhurst supplied the incisive through ball for Drake
to run on to and beat Nick Jordan but the goal had a huge
suspicion of offside attached to it.
The pass did take a slight deflection off a visiting defender
but Drake already appeared to be beyond the last man when
Broadhurst struck the ball.
Despite the Terras fierce protests though, the officials
allowed the strike to stand much to the disgust of the travelling
fans.
To their credit, Weymouth responded in the right manner by
immediately going in search of an equaliser but once again
they were left cursing their misfortune as Craig Duff saw
an effort cleared off the line by Paul Lloyd.
Byerley then sent an overhead kick over the crossbar before
Tribe denied Ben Billingham with a last-ditch clearance from
inside the six-yard box on 22 minutes.
After that the rest of the half became a war of attrition
although the Glassboys did create one more clear opportunity
when defender Ben Gerring gave away possession allowing Sam
Rock to race through but Jordan was on hand to pull off another
fine save.
Weymouth desperately needed something to go their way and
11 minutes after the break they got their wish to end a 330-minute
spell without a goal.
The equaliser arrived from the spot after Duff was upended
in the box by Paul McCone. Despite what happened at Frome,
Byerley showed remarkable calmness to slot the penalty away
and it was exactly what the Terras deserved for their tremendous
endeavour.
That work rate and team ethic continued and after Jordan
had denied Ryan Rowe with a couple of fine stops, the visitors
went on to muster a winner.
Reed had an effort cleared off the line by McCone before
Byerley hooked home his second on 85 minutes after Duffs
initial strike had been blocked.
The victory moves the Terras seven points clear of the drop-zone
in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division where they remain
in 15th spot.
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