Scott Bartlett’s side again put in an impressive performance against a strong Yeovil Town outfit at The Optima Stadium last night.
The first 20 minutes of the game was mainly a midfield battle, until Scott Laird had the opening chance of the game. Matt Jones burst down the left and pulled the ball back for the midfielder, with Laird’s shot being blocked inside the box. Albi Skendi then went close for the visitors when he brought down a crossfield ball and fired wide of Luke Purnell’s far post, before Jimmy Smith had a chance for Yeovil. A corner dropped for the winger inside the area, and his thunderous volley cracked off the crossbar and away to safety.
Sam Hendy had his first chance of the night as he bounded forward to overlap Nick McCootie on the counter, with the striker releasing the youngster through on goal. Hendy slid his shot towards goal, which was stopped by Josh Staunton on the line before being cleared away to safety. Smith had another chance for Yeovil, this time racing onto a ball over the top before dragging his shot across the face of goal.
Yeovil struck within 120 seconds of the second half restarting when Courtney Duffus took the ball down on the edge of the area and calmly placed his effort past the dive of Purnell and into the bottom corner to break the deadlock.
It didn’t take long for the Seagulls to equalise though. A quick free-kick was played to Lloyd Humphries, who had a shot from 25 yards smack off the post. The ball fell to Ben Griffith, who took a touch and calmly slotted into the net for 1-1.
Yeovil were soon ahead not long after when a trialist picked the ball up on the right wing. He ran at Greg Tindle, shifting inside and firing a powerful shot past Purnell into the far corner of the net to put his side ahead again.
Weston continued to trade blows with Yeovil, equalising with 18 minutes left on the clock. A ball over the top found Griffith racing into the area. The young forward brought the ball down and was pulled to the floor by one of the Yeovil centre-backs. The referee pointed to the spot, and up stepped Dayle Grubb. The Seagulls legend confidently dispatched his penalty into the top corner for 2-2.
The flurry of substitutions took the tempo out of the game, with the Seagulls having the final chances of the game. Aaron Parsons powered a header just wide from a Matt Jones corner at the back post, before Humphries curled narrowly wide after a flowing team move to end the game.
FT: Weston 2-2 Yeovil (Griffith 55, Grubb pen 72 – Duffus 47, Trialist 62)
Weston XI: Purnell, Goodall (Avery HT), Hall (Ryan Jones 62), Knowles (Jagger-Cane 40), Parsons, Noble (Tindle HT), McCootie (C) (Griffith HT), Laird (Grubb 62), Matt Jones, Hendy (Kempster 88), Humphries (Eastwood 88). Unused substitute: Symons.
MOTM: Lloyd Humphries.