Weston were held at home to a goal-less draw by Sutton.

WESTON-S-MARE 0

SUTTON UNITED 0

CRUCIAL offside decisions cost Weston a possible Blue Square South win against fourth in the table Sutton.

During the course of the game Frampton Cotterell referee Richard Martin and his assistants awarded 33 free kicks while Weston were adjudged to be offside on 12 occasions.

The visitors were extremely physical and relied on long clearances high in the air, despite the swirling wind, to mount attacks and despite dominating the first half, posed little danger to the home goal.

They did not register a shot on target until the 29th minute when the burly Leroy Griffiths gave an easy save to Lloyd Irish with a free kick and seven minutes later, Harry Beautyman gave another easy save to Irish with a header.

Sutton’s best chance came a minute before the interval when Craig Watkins burst through, but Irish came quickly off his line to block the effort.

During this period, little was seen of the Weston attack with strikers Chris Young and Ben Cleverley policed out of the game by a no-nonsense defence.

Matt Villis was off target, Cleverley fired over and Nat Pepperell wasted a great chance when he finished a strong run by firing wide with only keeper Kevin Scriven to beat.

Early in the second half Weston brought on Sahr Kabba and Kane Ingram for Young and Cleverley and began to take control. Pepperell, coming in from the right, had a low effort come back off the foot of the far post and from the rebound, Scriven was lucky to claim the ball.

The home goal had a let-off on 71 minutes when, from a corner, the defence managed to scramble the ball to safety in a crowded six-yard box.

Minutes later, Kabba had the ball in the Sutton net, but was ruled offside. Later, Ingram forced a save from Scriven, and Brett Trowbridge, in a brief appearance since being injured in the opening day of the season, had a header cleared off the line with Scriven beaten.

WESTON STATS

Shots on target: Weston 4, Sutton 4.

Shots off target: Weston 3, Sutton 3.

Corners: Weston 2, Sutton 7.

Offsides: Weston 12, Sutton 1.

Free kicks conceded: Weston 16, Sutton 17.

Referee: Richard Martin (Frampton Cotterell). Good game in tricky conditions.

Bookings: Weston, Grubb, Price. Sutton, Telfer.

Attendance: 395.

Weston squad: Irish, Price, Jamie Laird, Grubb (Trowbridge 85), Villis, Martin, Diallo, Kirk, Young (Kabba 59), Cleverley (Ingram 64), Pepperell. Subs (not used): Mackay, Huxley.

ON Saturday, Weston are back on FA Cup duty as they entertain Havant and Waterlooville (3pm). If a replay is necessary, it will be played at Westleigh Park, Havant, on Tuesday next (7.45pm).

When the sides met in the Blue Square South back in August at the Woodspring Stadium, Weston ran out 3-1 winners, scorers being Nat Pepperell from the penalty spot, Jamie Price and substitute Sahr Kabba.