8:22am Thursday 8th January 2009
By Dill Butcher
TOM Grattidge fired home a hat-trick as the Tuatara Bar edged a nine-goal thriller against the Lugger at Budmouth in one of just four Weymouth Sunday League games to beat the freeze.
The Chickerell outfit began the better side with Martin Roberts striking a post and Richie Narramore missing a golden opportunity but it was not long before the T-Bar responded.
And it was in-form striker Grattidge who broke the deadlock with a cool finish from 10 yards after slipping past Mikey Hoskins.
Despite that setback the Lugger continued to exert pressure and they soon found themselves ahead with a quick-fire reply from Dean O’Callaghan and Lloyd Gilks.
Narramore and Matt Croxson linked up neatly, allowing O’Callaghan to rifle home from six yards, before Richard Marshallsay teed up Gilks to net in almost identical fashion.
The game continued to swing back and forth and on the stroke of half-time the T-Bar made it two apiece thanks to a powerful header from Gregg McKinstry.
Grattidge then bagged his side a third just five minutes after the restart but the Lugger refused to yield under extreme pressure with keeper Ian Bickerstaff producing several fine stops.
The villagers’ tenacity and resilience finally paid off when the impressive Marshallsay fired an unstoppable effort into the top corner from 20 yards after a trademark run.
The game was once again in the balance but it was the T-Bar that upped the tempo in the latter stages with McKinstry completing his brace and Grattidge grabbing his third with an exquisite lob from 25 yards.
However, the Lugger were not done yet and when O’Callaghan cut the deficit to 5-4 it made for a tense finale, but the T-Bar rearguard held out for three well-earned points.
The other game to take place in the Premiership saw the Kingswood stretch their unbeaten run to five games thanks to a solitary second-half winner from Paul Lambert that got the measure of the George at the Grove.
The talented midfielder displayed superb technique to rifle beyond stand-in stopper Ray Wellman as he latched on to Darren Long’s knock down from Matty Williams’ left-flank free-kick.
After that the hosts responded by piling men forward but the Wood refused to buckle even when Ray Wellman decided to drop the gloves and hit the front line late on.
Earlier in an even first 45 minutes, Williams, Michael Stone and Jimmy Hallett had all tried their luck for the visitors while Nick Gregg was forced to pull off two decent saves at the other end.
Winning co-boss Jason Wellman said: “We knew it would be a tough game because the George have a well-organised side. Their two centre-backs were superb and we struggled to break them down at times but we remained patient and managed to nick a winner through Paul, who was superb throughout.
“That is now five games unbeaten and we have also kept three clean sheets during that period which is fantastic but we must keep the momentum going.
“We play the George again this weekend and then we face another difficult game against the Lugger the following week so we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.”
Back at Budmouth, there were two further games played in the Championship with the Market House rising to the summit with an 11-0 thumping of the Alex and the Dorothy moving into third courtesy of a 4-0 win over the Rock.
The Dot went ahead from the first corner of the game when Ricky Lane picked out Phil Groves who thundered a header past keeper Dodge at the back post.
Carl McClements then doubled the advantage from another Lane corner and had it not been for some fine saves from Dodge and excellent defending from Colin Judge the deficit at half-time could have been a lot more.
As it was the lead was not stretched until late on when Chris Skinner and Lane both netted after Wayne Gifford had pulled off an outstanding finger-tip save to keep out Holder’s rasping shot that was destined for the top corner.
Nearby, the House turned in a season’s best performance as they easily overcame a spirited Alex outfit.
Dan Hill headed home Sammy Tids-well’s throw-in on 10 minutes and by half-time the Taverners were five up thanks to a quickfire hat-trick from Kipper Espley and another well-taken goal from Adam Schoffield.
Espley then grabbed his side a sixth early in the second before both Schoffield and Hill went on to complete trebles with Jack Hudson netting the other.
Craig Hillier was full of praise for his table-topping charges and said: “We were brilliant but fair play to the Alex because they never gave up.” RESULTS Weymouth Sunday League Premiership: George 0 Kingswood 1, Lugger 4 Tuatara 5.
Championship: Alex 0 Market House 11, Rock 0 Dorothy 4.
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