Thurrock left the Wessex Stadium with a two goal defeat, and in truth were lucky to escape without conceding more.

Jimmy McFarlane tries to get a flick on

After only ten minutes Weymouth might have had a penalty when Steve Heffer’s untidy challenge led to Kirk Jackson going down in the box. A minute later Richard Goddard’s sliding block stopped Wayne Purser from opening the scoring. Weymouth continued to push and Glenn Knight did well to hold a shot from the edge of the box. Moments later Kris Lee was flagged offside when through even though he was clearly onside as Fleet tried to muster an attack. Matt Bound then troubled Knight with a swerving shot but he held on well again. With injury time approaching Jason Matthews in the Weymouth goal picked the ball up knowing that he was outside the box but the linesman seemed to lack the courage to flag for it and it went unpunished. Weymouth would surely have been sent down to ten men if the decision had been given.

McFarlane wins a header under pressure

Colin McBride made two changes at half time with Mark Goodfellow and Lee Hodges coming off, being replaced by Boniek Forbes and John Purdie. Thurrock came nearest to scoring a minute into the half when Weymouth defender O’Brien nearly headed into his own goal from a Dave Collis corner. Weymouth took the lead on the hour when Purser drilled in from close range after Thurrock had failed to clear a corner. Purser should have scored again five minutes later but he shot wide when well placed. With twenty minutes left on the clock, the otherwise quiet Martin Carthy headed wide after a good O’Connor cross. The home side were still well on top and Fleet were grateful to Knight after he tackled Purser after a slip by Goddard. The second goal was inevitable and Wheeler was the scorer, heading past Knight to guarantee the win. With a minute to go Purdie nearly scored his first Fleet goal in over 300 games with a twenty yard volley but it wasn’t to be.

Forbes looks for a way through

Thurrock: Knight, Goodfellow (Purdie 46), Collis (Cross 78), Goddard, McFarlane ©, Heffer, Carthy, Hodges (Forbes 46), Bowes, Lee, O’Connor.