HAVANT 1 WEYMOUTH 3

WEYMOUTH avenged a 3-1 loss at home to Havant with a reverse of the scoreline on the road.

Matt Lawes and Christopher Fry came back into what was a full-strength side, who were organised and composed throughout against a well-drilled Havant team.

The Seasiders started the brighter of the two sides and adapted quickly to the bouncy conditions.

Forward Fry found the net at one point but the height at which he played the ball caused the goal to be overturned.

For a period in the first half both teams went down to 10 men.

Daniel Bowles was unlucky to be sin-binned for what was deemed to be a deliberate use of the foot and even more unlucky to be sidelined for 10 minutes as opposed to the minimum of five.

Weymouth regrouped at the halfway point and chances continued to flow.

Eventually the deadlock was broken by a combination of the Drewitt brothers along with Patrick May.

The ball flew between the three of them in mid-air before it was turned into the net by Luke Drewitt.

Havant then equalised from a penalty corner.

Following several lacklustre routines, the hosts finally pulled off an impressive drag flick into the top right-hand corner which sailed over the head of Weymouth’s Michael Westlake.

Samuel Drewitt then scored to regain the lead with an assist by his younger brother.

Attacking down the right, Luke Drewitt beat several players, took the ball to the end line within metres of the goal, cut it back and Samuel did the rest.

Weymouth’s third goal to wrap up the win came from an attack down the left.

The hosts were a man down at the time and that allowed the Seasiders to overload the defence on the right-hand side.

Luke Drewitt drew the Havant left-back out to the corner and captain Simon Harvey made an unmarked run into the circle from right-back.

Before Harvey could be picked up, left-back David Eames saw the run and fired the ball into the space, leaving the skipper to deflect the cross into the net.

The hosts resorted to long overheads to beat the Weymouth midfield, leaving their forwards stranded in attack and easily dealt with by central defenders Westlake and Underhill.

Due to Blandford & Sturminster’s withdrawal, Weymouth will have now a weekend off before hosting Portsmouth University on Saturday, March 7.

Man of the match: Samuel Drewitt