On a slippery pitch, with the rain starting to fall shortly after kick-off, the visiting Wealdstone nicked all three points late on in a game where the Seagulls were unlucky to not get a point from this clash.
Weston head coach Scott Bartlett went with an unchanged matchday 16, and stuck with Saturdays starting 11 taking to the field, his opposite Gordon Bartlett following suit, opting for an unchanged XI but made 2 changes to the players at his disposal on his substitutes bench.
The game started at a fast tempo for both sides, each struggling to retain possession before the other team broke upfield. Wealdstone had an early sight of goal when Seagulls’ number one Luke Purnell came out to meet Joe White before scrambling back up to impressively clear a curling shot from Aryan Tajbakhsh.
18 minutes in and Weston were forced to make an unplanned change when the heavy pitch and a couple of strong challenges contributed to Chris Barker pulling up with a calf injury and having to take an early shower, making way for Gethyn Hill.
Just past the half-hour mark, Weston took the lead in similar fashion to the first goal in Saturday’s win over Oxford. Grubb yet again got himself on the ball before charging forward, with the Stones defender backing off. The winger then curled into the exact same spot, with a defender getting a nick on the ball, and Jonathan North not stretching enough with Grubb once again wheeling away to celebrate his 12th league goal of the season.
An injury to referee Andrew Laver midway through the first half meant an appeal for a qualified linesman was announced, this saw the Weston Chief Steward don his kit to take over the job running the line and to replace the assistant referee, allowing him having to take his spot in the middle of the action, after a brief consultation with both Scott and Gordon Bartlett. The 12 minute delay saw both Bartletts talk to their teams and then dispatch them back to the pitch to drill to keep themselves warm ready for the restart.
Wealdstone nicked an equaliser just minutes into the second half when White managed to get his foot onto a cross from Tajbakhsh and drew the travelling side level.
As the second half progressed Weston found themselves missing the experience of centre-back Chris Barker, the Seagulls were put under constant pressure, which eventually told in the 80th minute. Canadian Elliot Godfrey maintained pressure after losing the ball on the edge of the Weston area, winning the ball back from central defender Jake Lee, and poked home to end Weston’s four-game unbeaten run.
FT: Weston 1-2 Wealdstone (Grubb 32-White 48, Godfrey 80)
Weston XI: Purnell, Pope, Greenslade, Humphries, Menayese, Barker (Hill 18), Chemlal (Reid 63), Cane, Ash, Grubb (C), Lee. Unused substitutes: Chamberlain, Baldwin, Kington.
MOTM: Rollin Menayese