What an amazing night it was on Tuesday as the Dolphins finally came away from Tiverton with all three points. It really does feel like the curse has been broken after four successive defeats at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium.
As we know the games come thick and fast at this time of year so with no time to dwell on Tuesday, we move onto the first of our local derby’s. We look forward to welcoming Weymouth to the Black Gold on Saturday ko 3pm. It’s worth noting that there will be segregation in place for this game so perhaps allow a little extra time.
There have been many changes at Weymouth this season after the relegation from National League South last year. Not only changes to the playing squad but someone who we know well, Steve Claridge has taken over as first team manager. He brings a wealth of experience which is just what they appear to need now with many changes also at board level.
The Terras find themselves in 17th place in the table (P10 W2 D3 L5 9 points) and come into this match on the back of the FA Trophy defeat to Wimborne Town (2-0) last Saturday. Their best league performance of the season so far was the 4-1 win at The Bob Lucas Stadium against our last opponents Tiverton Town. Goals from Kieran Douglas, Tom Bearwish (2) and Luke Cook giving them an impressive victory. This was an improvement from the previous two home league fixtures against Gloucester City and Gosport Borough, both of which they lost. They have won one of their 4 away fixtures, the 2-0 win at Plymouth Parkway. They are 16th in the form table (P6 W1 D2 L3)
We last played a league match against Weymouth in 2018/19 season when they were promoted to the National League South as champions. We drew both matches with them, 2-2 at The Bob Lucas Stadium and 1-1 at The Black Gold.
As always there will be plenty of familiar faces in the visiting team, amongst them are likely to be defender Oakley Hanger who enjoyed a spell with us last season. Matty Burrows the pacey winger who was at Wimborne Town last season will almost certainly feature in their line-up. Steve Claridge has moved into the loan market with the signing of Bristol City U21 defender Max Davies. He has featured prominently in their recent matches.
The win at Tiverton moves us up to 3rd place (P9 W5 D3 L1 18 points) hard on the heels of the leading pack. The strike force of Shaq (9) and IK Hill (5) is proving to be extremely productive. We are also 3rd in the form table P6 W3 D3.
When the fixture list is released, the first match we look for are the local derby’s against Weymouth, Wimborne and Dorchester. It’s going to be an afternoon that we have really been looking forward to. We have played just four league matches at home due to our involvement in the cup competitions. We are playing in front of an average of just under 600 but there’s little doubt that we will exceed this on Saturday.
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington.
