Weymouth FC 1 Dover Athletic 1 A game dominated by The Terras ultimately ended in a draw against Dover Athletic at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

An evening kick off for The Terras on Saturday in front of the BT Sport cameras opened up an opportunity for Brian Stock’s side to publicly demonstrate their attacking ability to the country, but ultimately, the lack of finishing product resulted in a share of the points.

The Terras started off particularly slow in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Dover Athletic’s new addition Junior Tiensia, on loan from Millwall, played a dangerous curving ball into the penalty area but nobody was there to attack the ball as it rolled for a goal kick.

Weymouth were guilty of giving the ball away very cheaply in possession and almost paid the ultimate price as skipper Josh McQuoid, who returned to the starting XI following illness, was dispossessed by Titus Bramble, who played a ball through on goal for Cosgrave to chase but Tyler Cordner, before Cosgrave could get a shot on goal, slid in excellently to break down the chance; a let off for The Terras.

The Terras’ first big chance of the game came via a good piece of passing play between Calvin Brooks and Josh McQuoid on the right flank. McQuoid then puts a low cross into the area which Bradley Ash, who lines up for a crack on goal, misses the ball, before it then leads to Murray’s feet whose shot doesn’t threaten the back of the net as it rolls into the gloves of Dover goalkeeper Adam Parkes.

Dover once again found themselves in a favourable attacking situation on goal before Tyler Cordner again was able to put in a challenge which allowed Fitzsimons to gather the ball. Dover were looking for a penalty however the referee dismissed claims.

On 22 minutes, Dover got the opener. Koby Arthur was played a simple ball to his feet from wide by Tiensia, who then took a couple of touches without much pressure, in the centre of the attacking half, before striking the ball from outside the area into the bottom left-hand corner. A goal which came at the price of Weymouth giving the ball away in the middle of the park.

Weymouth responded well to the goal. On 36 minutes came another good chance. A corner won by the Terras on the right flank was driven in by Omar Mussa to Taofiq Olomowewe whose effort was wide of the post.

Brandon Goodship had a shot which was high and wide following another McQuoid cross followed by an Ollie Harfield shot from distance. But Weymouth eventually grabbed the equaliser as a ball from Cameron Murrray played to Ash just inside the box, which, on the turn, played through McQuoid with some neat play and he confidently slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 1-1.

In the second half, it was more of the same from Weymouth since the opening goal. There was a chance for Weymouth to take the lead when Murray found Harfield inside the box and his short cross to Ash was saved by the goalkeeper.

Weymouth then won a free kick in the middle of their own half which Josh McQuoid took quickly, and Bradley Ash was on goal, but he curled his shot wide. Dover had a chance of their own when Cosgrave won a long ball, he beat Olomowewe, and opened an angle to shoot at the near post which Fitzsimons was able to dive down and save.

Dover began to feel the pressure when the defence lost possession cheaply to Cameron Murray who could have taken a shot but instead passes wide to Calvin Brooks who shoots but the Dover keeper makes a very good save with his feet.

As the game petered out, there were a couple of chances for both sides. Tiensia and Woods had strikes from range for Dover and Weymouth had the final chance at the end of the game when Ben Morgan played a long ball into the box towards Tyler Cordner but his header was weak and Adam Parkes caught with ease and moments later the referee blew time on the game.

In the end, a lack of clinical finishing and creativity cost the Terras. Notably, Weymouth were missing two influential players with Sean Shields and Josh Leslie-Smith absent from the game. With a potentially tough game in Barnet next Saturday to come, Brian Stock will be rallying his team on, to try and take three points back to the South Coast.