Crusaders suffer late heartbreak

A late Josh McQuoid goal sealed a narrow victory for high flying Weymouth against Hungerford. The visitors will feel hard done by having gone ahead in the first half and limiting the hosts to only a few clear cut chances throughout the 90 minutes. However the inability to put the ball in the back of the net more than once was punished in cruel fashion in the dying stages of the contest.

Ian Herring made four changes to the side which faced Chelmsford last weekend. Josh Bradley-Hurst made his debut in goal and Jose Maturino Da Silva made his debut in attack at the age of 16. Akinwale Odimayo made a return to midfield along with Dan Bailey. Herring changed the formation to a 4-4-2 with Zidan Akers and Da Silva the attacking partnership. Joe Tomlinson played at right midfield with Matt Jones returning to his left back position which he made his own last season.

It was a scrappy start to the contest with the visitors keen to stop their higher placed hosts from playing their normal passing game. Weymouth were though to have the first chance through wide-man Abdulai Baggie, striking a deflected shot just wide. A minute later, Brennan Camp flicked a header wide from a corner. Before the twenty minute mark it was to be Hungerford who took the lead. Dan Bailey's inch perfect cross was met by the darting run of Da Silva ahead of goalkeeper Calum Ward. Da Silva's header was his first goal for the club and silenced the Bob Lucas Stadium. Baggie was still the clear danger man for the hosts constantly driving forward down the right hand side and he set up a golden chance for striker Brett Williams. Williams was unmarked in the penalty area but couldn't connect firmly with Baggie's seemingly perfect cross. Four minutes later, Baggie went on another driving run and this time fired an effort past the outstretched hand of Bradley-Hurst. The goal sparked life into a quiet home crowd but the Terras were still finding difficulty in breaking through a stubborn opposition defence whose game plan was so far working well.

After the interval, the second half started in similar fashion to that seen in the first half. However Weymouth were starting to dominate possession penetrating the Hungerford rearguard without any final product. Instead the Crusaders should've taken the lead with twenty minutes to go. Odimayo forced a good save from Ward but the on-loan Bournemouth goalkeeper could only push the ball out to defender Taofiq Olomowewe. Olomowewe blazed the ball over an open goal. That was to cost the visitors as the pressure started to mount at the opposite end. Jake McCarthy had an effort cleared off the line following a clever corner routine before McQuoid curled a strike over the crossbar. Ollie Harfield then brought an excellent save from Bradley-Hurst. Terras danger-man Baggie had been relatively quiet in the second half but then found McQuoid in the penalty area who fired home into the corner of the net. On 87 minutes, the goal was to be the winner however Ward still had to be alert to make a save from Bailey at the end of normal time. Four minutes added on were not enough to grab a late equaliser as Weymouth edged a tight encounter. Hungerford's game plan nearly worked a treat but they now have to move on to a big game on Tuesday evening when Tonbridge Angels are the visitors to Bulpit Lane.