COWES SPORTS RES 1 WEYMOUTH RES 1

WEYMOUTH Reserves collected their first point of the season with a hard-earned draw against Cowes Sports at Westwood Park.

But despite being pleased to see his side's Wessex Combination campaign off and running, boss Dave Kiteley was far from happy with the playing conditions on the Isle of Wight.

He said: "It should have been a good game of football between two young sides but unfortunately the only winner was the pitch. You expect the surfaces to be hard at this time of year but this was hard, lumpy and totally uneven.

"The boys really tried to play the ball on the deck but it was a complete waste of time. I was warned it was poor by the Portland players who went over there a few weeks ago, but to be honest I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was."

Weymouth had the better chances in the first period with Adam Ravenscroft and Paul Lambert going close and Martin Underhay also causing problems.

But despite their efforts, it was the hosts who went in front from the spot after Adie Harvie had been penalised for shirt pulling in the 76th minute.

The Terras hit back four minutes later in identical fashion when Leon Green got up after being fouled and smashed his penalty into the bottom left-hand corner.

Kiteley added: "We probably had enough chances to win quite easily but we seem to have this habit of trying to do too much in front of the target. The key is not to panic and not try too hard and once we get that sorted we'll be okay.

"But I can't fault the lads for effort. Again they've given me 100 per cent and it's nice to get a point on the board following three defeats."

Terras: Barton, Hill, Carter, Harvie, De La Planque (Dixon 81mins), Lee, Lambert, Bichard (Panjalizadeh-Marseh 75mins), Green, Underhay, Ravenscroft (Borthwick 65mins).