WEYMOUTH 1, ALDERSHOT & FARNHAM 6

DESPITE the scoreline, Aldershot & Farnham showed only flashes of brilliance to run away clear winners in what was otherwise a sluggish affair on a slow pitch in the bright sunshine of Weymouth.

This was A&F’s furthest away fixture of the season by a country mile and the league leaders had to ensure there no slip-ups against the side marooned at the foot of the table.

Weymouth set the early pace, trying to overwhelm Aldershot in midfield and break quickly. But Chris Edwards and Jamie Weston remained calm at the back, picking off passes as A&F soaked up the pressure.

The visitors started moving the ball and took the lead with a superb team goal. Andy Chadwick finished it off, set up by Ian Metcalfe at the top of the D after a string of passes by Kevin McCafferty and Max Heaphy in midfield.

Metcalfe grabbed the second, a tap-in at the back post as Heaphy and Rob Jervis got behind the defence on the right, and there should have been a quick third as Marc Hinton’s cross whistled across the goal with no-one able to get the final touch.

Aaron Buchanan and Ollie Yelland were working hard to deny Weymouth defenders time on the ball and A&F gradually moved into the ascendancy.

Their clear dominance was getting to Weymouth who had a man banished to the sin-bin for bad language. But the 10 men battled on valiantly and forced a brace of short corners, the first saved by Hamish Hall, the second charged down and cleared by Charlie Rickett.

Phil Rushmere then lifted the ball over the scrambling keeper, after a strike from Hinton, for the third goal.

It was not until the second half that the Farnham side put together a sequence of short corners and Hinton, playing on after taking a stinging blow on the head, added to his season’s tally with a drag-flick.

Weymouth had a forward carried off after a bruising encounter with Rickett and then, in scenes reminiscent of Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip against Chelsea, skipper Rickett tripped on the turn, leaving the striker clean through. Hall was out quickly to stop the first shot, but the second looped over him into the net.

Aldershot immediately responded with another Hinton drag-flick from a short corner. And Hinton hit the crossbar after a skilful dribble into the D before Phil Rushmere rounded off the scoring with his second of the day – his first double for A&F.

With Bournemouth narrowly beating Fareham 3-2, Aldershot & Farnham now need one win from their three remaining games to clinch the title and secure successive promotions, assuming Bournemouth fail to overturn the cushion of a +30 goal difference.