Market Weighton United

Training now starts at 8pm every Wednesday, finishing at 9pm. It's on the new astro turf at the sport centre behind Market Weighton School (Spring Road).

On Thursday Weighton entertained Eastern Raiders from Goole in the HED cup . Recent encounters with Raiders have proved to be feisty affaires and require a strong referee and this game continued with this trend.

Coach John Girling was boosted by the return of Hardcastle, Nicholson , and Hutchinson, making his first start since pre season , and was able to field nearly a full strength side.

The game started at a frantic pace on a rock hard pitch with Weighton getting the best of the early play. With Hutchinson dominating in defence with Alan Jones Weighton were able to dominate posession and were soon rewarded when Jack Lewis put Hardcaslte through to shoot past a stranded Raiders keeper.

Whilst Raiders started to create a few chances of their own the defence of Das Hobson , Hutchinson , Jones and Keith Aconly were rarely under pressure ,David Oconnor stunned the travelling supporters with a vicious left foot shot from outside the box which nearly broke the back of the net , if not the Raiders hearts.

Going in at half time with a 2 - 0 lead Weighton were in complete control and a number of Raiders players received yellow cards for constant foul and abusive language towards the referee.

With the second half underway shots from Luke Cox and Lewis both went close before a cross from Lewis found the head of O Connor who , under pressure , manage to guide in his second and Weightons third.

By now Raiders were a thoroughly beaten team and their situation was further worsened when when they lost a player for a violent tackle for which he was red carded.

Coach Girling then brought on Scott Silburn as a stand in striker , who impressed the crowd with his lightening pace and close ball control .

Hardcastle then rounded off a good all round Weighton team performance when he scored his second , latching onto a through ball from O Connor.

This was an excellent performance by Weighton against a very physical team and they proved that when cocah Girling is able to field a full strength team they can beat the best . It is frustrating that for a number of reasons this is not usually possible.

Jones hat trick kills off Full Measure

On Saturday Weighton entertained second in the league Driffield side Full Measure. Earlier in the season these two sides had shared a thrilling 3 - 3 draw and Full Measure knew that if they could turn Weighton over at home then they would move into 1st place in the league .

Weighton , boosted by the return of Neil Watt , Scott Silburn , Das Hobson , Sean Roberts and new player Stuart Lawson , made the more confident start and immediately started to put the Full Measure defence under pressure.

However after only 15 minutes formidable striker Fozzy had to leave the fray with hamstring problems and coach John Girling sent on Morris Morford to partner David O Connor up front

With the defence of Scott Silburn , Lawson , Keith Aconley and Alan Jones holding firm and keeper Watt giving an assured and calm performance in goal ,Weighton drew first blood when an O’Connor flick on was latched onto by Jack Lewis who drove into the Full Measure box and shot past the keeper to make the score 1 - 0.

Weighton continued to pressurise the Full Measure defence , who for the top of the table side appeared very nervous at the back especially in the air where O Connor dominated all game , and were unlucky not to make it two when a free kick from Luke Cox grazed the crossbar with the keeper completely beaten.

With half time looming Weigton took too long clearing the ball from the back and gifted Full Measure a goal against the run of play.

As usual Girling delivered a rousing half time team talk and the players started the second half in dominant mood

With only minutes gone a cross from Lewis found the head of O Connor who delivered a built like header into the back of the net and minutes later Lewis was denied his second when he hit the post.

Girling then introduced the experience and strength of Roberts and Dean Playforth into the game, giving Tom Eldvige and Aconley well deserved rests, however he had to further re adjust when Jones picked up an injury . With all replacements used Girling made the inspirational decision to move Jones upfront .

With Full Measure chasing an equaliser the game really opened up and this proved to be to Weightons benefit and the players really started to express themselves.

A Lewis cross was nodded down by Lawson and stand in striker Jones , who now seemed to have got over his injury problems , tapped in Weightons third.

Full Measure threw everything at Weighton , including their goal keeper going up for corners . With a ball cleared from the Weighton box "poacher" Jones saw his chance and sent a speculative shot from the half way line which to everyone’s delight found the back of the net .

With minurtes left Weighton were awarded a freekick just outside the Full Measure area and up stepped Jones to fire in , with a little help of a deflection , his third and Weightons fifth.

This was an excellent result for Weigton who completely demolished their opposition and the players know that if they can perform to this standard and intensity every week then promotion is still very much a possiblity . Whilst all players had good games , and Lawson making an impressive debut , man of the match was rightly awarded to hat trick hero Alan Jones.

Saturday 25th February

On Saturday Weighton entertained Viking Raiders from Goole and were boosted by the welcome return of Neil Watt, who was keen to quash the rumour that he had spent the last 3 months caddying for Manchester City’s Tevez in Argentina.

Matches against Raiders are always keenly contested affairs and this was to prove no different as both sides started the match at a furious pace with Weighton having the better of the early encounters. Shots from David O’Connor and Sean Roberts kept the Raiders defence on their toes, but failed to test the keeper, and runs from Jack Lewis, Jonny Hardcastle and Luke Cox caused havoc however Weighton were rocked early on when goalie Greg Storrer had to leave the fray following a heavy challenge from a Raiders striker.

Coach John Girling was forced to move Watt into the goal and brought on youngster Morris Morford at right back. Raiders sort to try to take advantage of this enforced change and started to pepper the Weighton box with crosses. Despite a number of very physical challenges, Neil “The Cat" Watt held firm and dealt with all thrown at him and on the one occasion where Raiders did manage to unsettle him Dean Playforth was on hand to clear off the line.

Taking heart from withstanding this pressure Weighton continued to create chances through Scott Silburn, Lewis and a cheeky back heel from O Connor before the referee missed a blatant offside by a Raiders striker which allowed them to sneak a goal just before halftime.

As the players left the pitch for one of Girling’s now legendary team talks Raiders players were noticeable content with their performance. Girling picked up on this and with a few well-placed words encouraged his players to continue to take the game to the opposition.

With only a few minutes played of the second half Weighton secured a corner. A Lewis cross found Roberts who coolly shot passed the keeper.

Raiders players then started to argue amongst themselves and with the referee and Weighton saw this as an opportunity to press home their advantage and a through ball from Lewis found Roberts again for him to make it 2 - 1.

A mini revival from Raiders was thwarted when Silburn cleared off the line and the referee , who had been subject to abuse from Raider’s players all game , despite the fact that an assessor was present , booked 4 Raiders players in quick succession for a combination of abuse and violent tackles.

By now Raiders were in disarray and Lewis finished off a fine run with a left foot pile driver into the top right hand corner of the net to make it 3 – 1.

Weighton then gave away a free kick just outside their area which was converted by Raiders to make the score 3 - 2. Girling was forced to make a further change with 20 minutes left when Das Hobson, who had run himself as usual into the ground for the cause, had to leave the game with a foot injury.

This brought on Fozzy who went up front with O’Connor, allowing Roberts to drop back into midfield and Tom Elvidge to left back.

Raiders, who seemed more intent on kicking Weighton players and abusing the referee, rather than chase the game, were rewarded with their unsportsmanlike attitude when they received two more yellow cards and a red card. This had the effect of really opening the game up and the guile and experience of Fozzy came to the fore when he sent a pin point cross over to O’Connor who placed the ball into the back of the net to make it 4 - 2.
By now the game was effectively won however Elvidge was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the area a Raiders scored a penalty with the last kick of the match.

With the score finishing 4 - 3 to Weighton Raiders players continued to show their true colours by abusing the referee whilst Weighton walked off content with a good allround performance.

Girling was quick to recognise the role the referee had played in controlling the game in difficult circumstances and reflected that a weaker official could have been intimated by the vocal Raiders outfit.

This was an excellent performance from the team with many good individual contributions but , for his strong performane at the back , Dean Playforth was awarded man of the match.