New Year nightmare

WEYMOUTH'S rollercoaster season suffered its most alarming dip to date at the Wessex Stadium yesterday where an amazing second-half capitulation saw their winless home streak stretched to five games.

A bumper New Year's Day crowd of 2,002 watched in horror as a mediocre Salisbury side rolled over the Terras in emphatic fashion with goals from Matt Tubbs and Marvin Brown, and they could have had more.

The catalyst for the home side's dramatic slump was the game's opening goal which was clearly yards offside but that was still no excuse for the lack of fight and passion that followed from some of the Weymouth players, who as a unit totally lost their way.

A deafening chorus of boos rang out at the final whistle with some fans threatening to rip up their season tickets and others calling for manager Jason Tindall to be sacked.

The 30-year-old's bad day at the office began before the match had even started with the club's leading scorer Jefferson Louis refusing to take a seat on the bench and leaving the ground adamant that he deserves to be in the starting XI.

Wilfried Domoraud was the surprise inclusion in the Terras' frontline. The Yeovil Town loanee was making his debut after penning a one-month loan deal the previous day.

Fit again trio Justin Roberts, Nick Crittenden and Stuart Beavon were also recalled while Joel Kitamirike, Conal Platt and Gavin McCallum all dropped to the bench. Paolo Vernazza missed out due to a foot injury.

Having already claimed a win and a draw in the last ten days against City, the Terras entered the game with bragging rights and it was clear that the visitors were determined to even the scores.

Nick Holmes' side sent a dangerous early corner across the face of the six-yard box and began the brighter side but on eight minutes they suffered a blow when defender Matthew Robinson had to withdraw from the game after a nasty clash of heads.

Salisbury's medical team did initially try to patch him up but in the end Oliver Barnes replaced him on 15 minutes.

Domoraud was certainly looking to impress and just before City's early substitution he nearly went clean through after a fine pass by Beavon.

The Yeovil loanee accelerated through the gears but his first touch was a little heavy and that allowed keeper Ryan Clarke to gather.

Marcus Browning then shot high and wide after some good work by Crittenden as the hosts began to enjoy a sustained period of pressure.

On 19 minutes Domoraud should have put the hosts ahead after Browning had flicked on a ball from the back by Kyle Critchell.

The speedy striker raced through but his low shot was saved superbly by the outstretched right foot of Clarke.

A threatening far-post cross by Sandell led to Critchell making a vital clearance from inside his own six-yard box at the other end after a header by Darryl Clarke but the game was quickly becoming very scrappy with both sides guilty of giving the ball away far too cheaply.

The final effort of the half came in added-time when Sandell had a stunning half volley from 30 yards pushed around a post by home stopper Jason Matthews.

Weymouth have had a habit recently of conceding early goals in the second half and on 51 minutes the curse struck again.

Browning committed a foul and was booked after getting caught dwelling on the ball and from the resulting free-kick Matt Tubbs sent a flick header past Matthews and into the far corner of the net.

The Terras were furious as the City striker was clearly stood in an offside position when the cross was fired in but the assistant referee covering that half of the pitch disagreed. Marvin Brown had a great chance to double the advantage shortly after but when he broke into the box and tried to stab the ball into the corner of the net Matthews made a fine save.

But the ex-Yeovil striker was not going to be denied and on 65 minutes he made up for that miss by heading home from close range.

A cross from the right was flicked on and Brown guided the ball into the ground from six yards out, foxing the wrong-footed Matthews who could only help it in.

Platt replaced Browning seconds later and he soon went about trying to make an instant impact, firing wide from 25 yards.

Barnes responded by hitting the bar from a corner for City who then sealed the result with a penalty on 83 minutes.

Crittenden was judged to have upended Sandell, and Tubbs sent Matthews the wrong way with a confident spot-kick. The Terras were now getting torn to shreds and moments later Brown nearly added a fourth, heading just wide of the far post from 13 yards.

Scott Doe and substitute Gavin McCallum both went close to grabbing a consolation in the final minutes but Weymouth ended the match looking like a side totally drained of confidence.

And unless an injection of experience and fresh impetus is added in this month's transfer window a relegation dogfight could soon be on the cards.