WESTON’S perfect start to 2012 came to a halt in gale force winds as a controversial linesman’s decision steered them towards a 3-0 loss at Boreham Wood.

Despite the defeat boss Craig Laird remains determined to guide the team to a play-off position, with the team remaining sixth in the Blue Square South table.

After four out of five wins so far this year, the Seagulls are a mere two points off Sutton United, who occupy the fifth and final play-off spot.

The team were welcomed by gale force winds as they travelled to Essex to face 13th placed Boreham, who look destined to remain in mid-table this season.

Weston failed to deal with the conditions and managed just one real effort on target throughout the match at Meadow Park.

Home skipper Mario Noto had the only chance of the first half when he fired narrowly wide.

After the interval Sahr Kabba fired over the home crossbar, before Boreham opened the scoring as Leyton Orient loanee Billy Lobjoit raced clear of the Weston defence to beat keeper Lloyd Irish.

The goal left the Weston dugout apoplectic as they believed Lobjoit was four or five yards offside as the ball was played to him.

Nonetheless the goal stood, and Lobjoit struck again on 65 minutes, speeding past the Seagulls’ defence again to fire past Irish. Sam Lechmere added gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time, as he tapped in after combining with David Hutton.

Of the match Craig said: “I think in the end we were undone by the winds and the linesman’s decision for the first goal. It was clearly offside, but it wasn’t given.

“There are only a handful of games every season where we can simply say we were poor, and this was one of them.

“I feel sorry for the supporters who travelled, but we’ll make sure that we improve and get a good result against Bromley on Saturday.”

Coincidentally, in last season’s corresponding fixture, Weston walloped Bromley 7-0, having lost 6-3 to Boreham in their previous game.

Craig continued: “The players have always responded really well to defeats and we’ll look to do the same on Saturday. We think we can get in the play-offs and we’ll keep up our good work to get there.”

Craig also revealed the club hopes to tie up a contract with young Wells City midfielder Matt Hurley which would allow him to join Weston.

He believes the 18-year-old has great potential and wants him to become a part of Weston’s future plans.

He said: “He has all the attributes to become a really good player, and we want to find the best players from Somerset and make them part of our own plans.

“We have the ethos of bringing in young players with lots of potential, and although we would probably let him stay at Wells for the rest of the season, we want to bring him in and introduce him to the rest of the squad.”

Weston will also play a friendly against a Cardiff City side at The Woodspring on Wednesday. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.