Totton bag point in Weymouth thriller (From Daily Echo)

Totton bag point in Weymouth thriller

11:45am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Sport

AFC Totton striker Richard Gillespie struck twice at Weymouth last night to take his season’s goal tally to a highly respectable six in five games.

But it was not enough to secure victory for Steve Riley’s Stags who drew an action-packed Evo-Stik Southern Premier encounter 3-3.

The game went goal crazy midway through the first half after James Coutts had given Totton a 20th minute lead.

Playing against his old club, Coutts raced onto a through pass and slid the ball calmly past Terras keeper Simon Evans.

Slack defending allowed Scott Walker to equalise in the 24th minute and, just two minutes later, Dan Smith headed Weymouth into a 2-1 lead.

But it was just a matter of seconds before Gillespie pulled Totton level when he slammed home a corner and, with 42 minutes gone, the former Bashley and Eastleigh marksman struck again.

This time Mike Gosney delivered the throughball and Gillespie was on it like a flash to bury past Evans.

Totton had a let-off just after half-time when Weymouth hit the bar from 25 yards.

And it looked as if the gods were smiling on them when Gareth Barfoot saved Walker’s 67th-minute penalty after Ryan Hill had brought down Craig Duff.

But Barfoot turned from hero to villain five minutes later, allow¬ ing a seemingly harmless shot by Smith to squirm under his body, gifting the Terras a share of the points in front of a 635 crowd.

Included on the bench for Totton was former Chesham midfielder Jamie Rudd.