FA Cup fourth qualifying round
Forest Green Rovers 2
Sercombe 41, Doidge 90 +2)
Weymouth 0
Goals in each half from Liam Sercombe and a late Christian Doidge strike booked Forest Green’s place in Monday night’s FA Cup first round draw after a hard-fought win over a dogged Weymouth.
A high-octane start saw Steve Cotterill’s side dominate the opening exchanges with Rovers’ Tom Knowles spanking the top of Will Buse’s bar.
National League South strugglers Weymouth were struggling to merit a foothold in this tie as Rovers turned up the heat. However, the Terras stood firm – Ben Greenwood’s block on the line thwarted Knowles’ after Charlie McCann cut the visitors wide open.
Picture gallery: Peter Barnes
For all of Rovers’ dominance it was Weymouth who fashioned an opportunity on 30 minutes. A rare excursion saw Keelan O’Connor skip beyond Manny Osadebe to plant a cross onto Christie Ward’s head only for giant defender Ryan Inniss to block.
Six minutes before the break Ward fluffed a fine opportunity to give Weymouth the lead – skewing wide of Jamie Searle. A minute later Rovers nosed ahead – Sercombe scoring inside the box. A double save from Buse denied Kyle McAllister as Rovers hunted a second. At the other end, Searle stood up well to deny Ezio Touray.
Weymouth laid the first glove of the second half – Tom Bearwish forcing Searle into a sprawling save.
It was nip and tuck – Buse dropping on a McAllister fizzer and Harry Cardwell a toe from converting an Osadebe cross.
Deep into stoppage-time, McCann pick-pocketed Ward to play in substitute Doidge, who finished with aplomb.
Team line-ups:
Forest Green (4-3-3): Searle 6; Osadebe 6, Inniss 6, Tozer 6, Robson 7); McCann 6, May 6 (Quigley 90), Sercombe 6 (Bunker 90) ; McAllister 7, Cardwell 6 (Doidge 83), Knowles 7 (Omotoye 90)
Subs not used: Maddox
Weymouth (4-2-3-1) Buse; Brooks (Hamblin 77), Thompson, Jordan (Jones 89), Greenwood (Genesini 77); Robinson, Rowan; Ward, O’Connell 7 (Maguire-Drew 69), Bearwish (Pollock 89; Touray
Subs not used: Armstrong, Terrell
Half time: Forest Green 1-0 Weymouth
Referee: Robert Massey-Ellis
Star man: (Adam May Forest Green, Midfielder)
Rating: 3/5
Match statistics
FGR – WEYMOUTH
Shots on target: 7-4
Shots off target: 3-1
Corners: 2-2
Offside: 5-2
Fouls: 5-6
Yellow cards: 0-3
Red cards: 0-0
Star man: Tom Knowles
Entertainment value: 2/5
Attendance: 1,133
