Brandon Goodship double mires the Martyrs
WEYMOUTH 2
Goodship 21, 65
MERTHYR TOWN 1
Prosser 56
A BRANDON Goodship brace saw the Terras past a spirited Merthyr Town with a 2-1 win in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier South.
Merthyr, who were vastly outplayed for the first 35 minutes, fought back to level after Goodship had struck early on.
Yemi Odubade, who was a thorn in the Martyrs’ side for the entirety of the match, set Goodship up for both of his strikes, allowing them to re-take the lead following Ryan Prosser’s leveller.
There was just one change for the Terras as Odubade replaced Josh Carmichael.
Josh Wakefield was completely absent from the squad.
Tiago Sa, while not fit to make the 16, did drills pre-match on the pitch.
Weymouth had the better of the early stages at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
Firstly, Callum Buckley swung in a free-kick marginally over the head of Jake McCarthy after four minutes.
Then a promising move forward was ended prematurely, with Calvin Brooks slipping a ball towards an offside Odubade.
Jarrad Wright then stopped a Weymouth second.
Odubade very smoothly wove his way through the Merthyr midfield, before sliding the ball to Thomson, who went on a mazy run before being tackled by Wright five yards in front of the Merthyr goal.
The dominant start continued, with Goodship then slamming a free-kick into the Merthyr wall from 30 yards out, before he whipped a shot from the edge of the box just over the bar.
The Martyrs began to craft chances, a Kieran Lewis cross was just over the head of Prosser, before Lee Lucas rolled an effort harmlessly wide.
Yet it would be Goodship that would hand the Terras the lead after 21 minutes, and it was a deserved one.
Odubade, who was having an impressive performance, went on a mazy run, passing up the opportunity to have a shot himself and instead played in Goodship, who make no mistake from the edge of the box.
Merthyr goalkeeper Lewis Webb then denied Goodship a second with a superb save after 27 minutes.
The Terras’ dominance continued, with Merthyr failing to threaten.
Yet after 33 minutes, Weymouth almost helped their opponents.
Thomson jumped to head away a free-kick into the box and knocked the ball towards goal, but McHale was faster to the ball than Merthyr’s Wright.
Merthyr began to show signs of life and started to have more forays into the Terras’ half.
A counter attack nearly added a second for the Terras, with Abdulai Baggie linking up well with Goodship, who fired wide from a tight angle.
Despite a very resurgent end to the half for their opponents, Weymouth went in at the break 1-0 up.
Merthyr began the second half in the same way they ended the first, with Weymouth struggling to create much.
Yet a scramble in the box almost handed the Terras a second.
Sam Sherring narrowly failed to connect with a ball in, before the ball rattled out towards Goodship, who curled in a strike that hit Wright.
It would be the Martyrs who would strike next.
A deep Owain Jones cross found Prosser who poked the ball under McHale’s legs to equalise for the visitors after 56 minutes.
However, Weymouth hit back soon after.
Odubade went down in the box under a challenge from Adam Davies to earn the Terras a penalty.
Goodship duly stepped up to send Webb the wrong way and hand Weymouth the lead again after 64 minutes.
An off-the-ball incident then infuriated Baggie as he and Lucas both saw yellow for their reaction.
Baggie then escaped further punishment when he caught Lucas.
Jordan Ngalo replaced Baggie to make his return from injury but Goodship should have wrapped up a hat-trick late on when he fired wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Iain Traylor fired over the bar late on for Merthyr but Weymouth would not be denied victory.
Weymouth travel to Hendon on Tuesday (7.45pm kick-off).
Terras: McHale, Brooks, Buckley, Sherring, Zubar, McCarthy, Odubade (Wells 85), Murray, Thomson, Goodship (Carmichael 90+4), Baggie (Ngalo 81)
Sub not used: Childs.
Merthyr Town: Webb, Davies (Meechan 84), Wright (Morgan 90), Harris, Lewis, Veale, Evans, Lucas, Swallow, Prosser, Jones (Traylor 78)
Subs not used: Foulston, Reddy.
Attendance: 715
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