BOTTOM SIDE STUN JOHNSON!
Leaders beaten late on
WESTON-SUPERMARE manager Marc McGregor hailed the character of his side as they inflicted the first home league defeat of Gary Johnson’s Torquay United reign.
Alex Bray, on loan from Championship side Rotherham United, proved to be a supersub for the Seagulls as he came off the bench to score a superb individual effort on 84 minutes that helps keep the Seagulls’ chances of beating the drop alive.
“Today was all about digging in and showing character,” McGregor told The NLP.
“We’ve come to a team who I think is the best in this division and we’ve now taken four points from a possible six against them.
“It was a lovely finish by Alex for the goal, he’s had a difficult season with different spells out on loan at different clubs, but I hope he can kick on from here and get back into the Football League.”
Johnson, whose Gulls side remain top of the league despite their defeat because Woking could only draw at Hungerford, said: “It’s my first league defeat at home so I’m disappointed, the players are disappointed, everyone is disappointed.
“We tried to get things going in the second half without the real quality that we needed.
“We kept getting corners, but we couldn’t get anyone on the end of them and that disappointed me.”
The first chance of the game fell to Weston three minutes in when Jarrad Welch dispossessed United left-back Liam Davis before firing a tame shot at goal that Gulls’ goalkeeper
Shaun MacDonald comfortably collected.
Two minutes later, MacDonald was called into action again to prevent the Seagulls’ Jennison MyrieWilliams from scoring against his former club.
United threatened for the first time when Kalvin Kalala blasted a long-range effort straight at Weston’s goalkeeper Luke Purnell.
A minute later, Weston were in front when centre forward Gethyn Hill capitalised on a mistake by United defender Jean-Yves Koue Niate and ghosted in behind the Gulls’ back line to open the scoring.
United later had an appeal for a penalty turned down on 31 minutes for a challenge by Alex Byrne on Connor Lemonheigh-Evans.
In the second half, the Gulls made a strong start – forcing a succession of corners without finding the target.
In the 61st minute, Reid was denied by the reflexes of Purnell, after he had been excellently teed up by Saikou Janneh.
The Gulls eventually levelled from the penalty spot on 70 minutes through Reid, who sent Purnell the wrong way to score his 25th of the campaign, after Weston’s Tom Harrison felled Janneh. With six minutes to go, Bray made a run from inside his own half, as Weston hit the Gulls on the counter attack, to score the game’s decisive goal.
Despite their win, Weston are eight points from safety at the bottom of the National League South table.