The year was 1982 and it was a cold November afternoon in Weymouth when star player Trevor Finnigan incongruously stood in the dugout wearing merely a towel loosely tied around his midriff. Earlier forced to leave the field of play with a calf strain, he was therefore powerless to help his team as they found themselves 3-1 down early in the second half against Maidstone United and heading out of the FA Cup in the 1^st round proper. However, this point in time was merely the middle of this extraordinary cup run of amazing comebacks and one incredible cup upset…

To actually start this unlikely tale we must rewind a few weeks to when the Terras faced a potential banana skin away at in-form Cheltenham Town in the fourth qualifying round. Despite the hosts being two divisions beneath them, manager Stuart Morgan and his men knew they would have to be at their best to vanquish these relative minnows riding high in the Southern league Midland division.

Preparations were further hampered by a raft of injuries. Before the day, The Terras already knew they would be without joint leading goalscorers Trevor Finnigan & Anni Iannone who were not fit to play. Therefore it became a triple blow when news filtered through before the players boarded the team bus for Gloucestershire that regular goalkeeper Kieron Baker had been struck down with sickness and would not travel. Ergo Weymouth were forced to make changes in all departments….Reserve keeper Kevin Roberts had to be called up late, Billy Elliott was pushed into the centre of midfield, Neil Merrick hastily recalled to the back row and Peter Johnson was brought into attack. The team really were down to the bare bones with the only other senior player available…Bryan Lawrence…becoming the sole substitute despite struggling with a groin strain.

Despite these personnel setbacks, Weymouth matched their hosts for an hour…until Cheltenham had their big chance…their attacker attempted to lob stand-in Roberts in goal…but the Weymouth gloveman reached for the sky and brushed the ball as it arced over his head before scampering back to smother the ball on the line. Further anxious moments followed before Morgan’s men tightened up their game and they saw out the goalless match to ensure a replay the following Wednesday back at The Rec. Phew!

A week is a long time in football but it was just four days later that the home faithful witnessed a transformational performance at home. Finnigan & Iannone had both recovered from their injury niggles although Roberts maintained his place in goal and it was the reserve custodian that would see the first real action of the game, saving smartly with an outstretched foot in the first few minutes. But from there The Terras never looked back, rattling in four goals without reply in what was described as a seasons-best performance. That night Gerry Pearson bagged an opportunist brace with Mark Baber and Anni Iannello notching a goal apiece. And so with a slice of luck Weymouth were in the first round proper of the cup but they faced another stern test in that at home to league rivals and early pacesetters Maidstone United!

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Against the Kent team an evenly balanced first half gave no indications of the sheer drama that was to follow that day. That was until the 36^th minute when Weymouth conceded a shock goal. Standing flat-footed at a free kick, Maidstone man Ken Hill picked his spot to head home from a Mark Penfold floater. Then just seven minutes later the home side were shaken to the core when John Bartley made no mistake…he won the ball in the box and blazed home a scything shot from a seemingly impossible angle and into the roof of the net.

Two-nil down at half time and all but out but the whistle was still moist from the referee’s lips when Weymouth halved the deficit early in the second half, Peter Morrell running 30 yards with the ball after it had been laid onto him by the hard-working Gary Borthwick and he beat the visiting keeper with a wicked shot high into the net. But alas that hard work was undone just minutes later when the ball was deftly flicked over the head of advancing keeper Baker for the Kent side to open up a 3-1 advantage.

Maidstone then tried to kill off the game and so nearly succeeded, Baker in goal beaten all end up with a header past his prone form only for the galloping Paul Arnold to retrieve the situation with a magnificent goal-line clearance. A little over 20 minutes of normal time to go and star striker Trevor Finnigan had to leave the field of play with a calf strain. Perhaps in two minds whether he could bear to watch the end of the game or not he disappeared into the changing rooms only to reappear shortly afterwards wearing only a towel tied (hopefully tightly) around his waist on that cold November afternoon.

However his team-mates were about to turn up the heat as his replacement Richard Bourne soon scored, heading in from close range before Peter Morell completed the comeback. It was his brother Paul that started the move before Benjafield, Pearson and Borthwick were all employed to build the attack before the teenager Peter Morell received the ball some 25 yard out. Spotting a gap he let fly leaving the visiting keeper helpless and the Terras were back on level terms! And yet the crowd of 2,003 would witness one final twist with less than eight minutes to go as Maidstone cleared the ball only for it to fall at the feet of Pearson who sliced home a dramatic winner from 12 yards!

As the final whistle blew delighted fans grabbed manager Stuart Morgan, hugging him, patting him and queuing to shake his hand. They had seen the Terras stage an incredible recovery to score three times in a devastating ten-minute period and storm into the 2^nd round of the FA cup. However Terra Mark Baber said recently that the pressure was not felt on the pitch that day. “This Weymouth team had no fear, we knew if we kept playing the chances would come”. By conversely Morgan admitted afterwards he felt they had been “down and out” but that was all forgotten as all eyes turned to who the team would draw out of the famous velvet bag.

And the luck was in for the Terras who secured a plum draw, none other than third division Cardiff City away! Just a few months before the Welsh team had been in the second tier of English football but were well placed to make an immediate return that December having just lost six of their 19 league games to date. Despite needing a replay to get past another non-league team in Wokingham in round 1 no one would expect lightning to strike twice and for the pride of South Wales to struggle against a team two divisions and around 40 places below them in the footballing pyramid.

However in many ways this was a perfect fixture for the Terras – a prestige tie away at one of the highest ranked opponents they could play at this stage of the competition, not expected to win but with nothing to lose. For manager Stuart Morgan the match probably had added spice. As a Swansea born man he probably relished the thought of putting one over on their big local rivals.

The Weymouth team arrived at the ground with just the one injury concern, former Torquay centre back Richard Bourne failing a fitness test on his injured knee. Otherwise the team were back to full strength after recent injuries and in fine fettle having won six on the bounce in league and cup, rattling in 20 goals in the process. What went through the players minds as they prepared for the game is anyone’s guess but they would have certainly remarked on a very wet, muddy and uneven pitch and perhaps glanced at the matchday programme that, although was respectful, named the club as “Weymouth TOWN” throughout its pages.

When the game finally began City were on the attack from the start, Driving forward through the mud in the “uncomplicated style demanded by manager Len Ashurst”. Yes indeed, the same Len Ashurst that would go on to manage his opponents that day, a decade later in fact, almost to the day.

Despite the unsurprising start from the “big club” it was “little” Weymouth that had the first chance of note, young keeper Andy Dibble throwing himself to his left to deny (A thankfully fully-clothed) Trevor Finnigan. At the other end Cardiff stung the hands of Kieron Baker in the Terras goal, the ball only secured in his bread basket at the second attempt. This heralded a busy period for the visiting gloveman as the shots began to rain in, most dramatically on 20 minutes when a long drive cannoned out off the right-hand upright with Baker scrambling to cover the danger.

Cardiff continued to create chances until just before the half-hour they broke the deadlock. Borthwick fouled Cardiff’s Lewis and the resulting kick was crossed deep to the far post before being knocked back for Gibbins to end his goal drought after 14 games without hitting the target. It was now one-way traffic and City were 2-0 up and cruising nine minutes before the interval following a “glorious six-pass move”. Weymouth were battling with commendable spirit but so were City. There seemed no possibility that Ashurst’s men would be denied their place in the third round draw, especially as just before the break Borthwick cleared a City header just inches over his own bar, Baker a helpless spectator.

Two minutes into the second half and Weymouth finally won their first corner after City had won ten in the first have alone. It came to nothing but at least the Dorset side were now in a far more combative mood, no doubt following a half-time rollicking from manager Morgan. Four minutes later and teenager Paul Bodin, months before his first Wales U21 cap and well before his notable career took off, was forced to make a goal-line clearance with Dibble beaten, the other defenders waiting in vain for an offside decision that never came.

But on 54 minutes Weymouth were somehow back in the game, Italian born window cleaner Anni Iannone heading in Benjafield’s cross.

Mark Baber recalled “I remember going in at half time at two-nil down thinking this could be four or five if we’re not careful. However when we pulled one back I remember a great sense of belief in the team. We were on the crest of a wave and no way did we sit back and hope for a draw. We continued to play with the same intensity and managed to grind out a winner minutes from the end”.

“Brian gave me the perfect ball,” said Iannone. “I had only one place to put it – in the top corner.”

The minnows of Weymouth were visibly lifted by the goal, the tie suddenly a contest once more. Yet Cardiff so nearly regained their two-goal advantage just after the hour-mark but for a desperate intervention nut Paul Morell who hacked Hemmerman’s goal-bound header off the line.

But with just 12 minutes to go non-league Weymouth “Town” levelled the game, a mistake by Cardiff allowing Iannone to centre from the right presenting Finnegan with a tap-in!

Iannone said later: “I heard Trevor calling for the ball and laid it to him. The next moment it was in the back of the net!”

Now City were under pressure and, not wanting another replay to clog their fixture congestion further, they brought on another attacker in an attempt to win the tie, much to the displeasure of the home fans.

The gamble backfired catastrophically though as the visitors took advantage of the extra space at the back – Pearson neatly heading home after Baber had latched onto a poor clearance from keeper Dibble.

“It was a wonderful cross from Mark,” enthused Pearson. “I didn’t let it hit the ground. I just whacked it. It was the most pleasing goal I have ever scored.

“But I couldn’t believe we were 3-2 up! I remember asking Trevor Finnigan, ‘Did it happen?’

“He replied, ‘Just keep running for another five minutes and we are through to the third round’!”

The fight back was complete in sensational style as Weymouth fans and players celebrated in the Welsh mud amid cries of “What a load of rubbish” from the home faithful!

Weymouth were in the 3rd round proper of the FA Cup for the first time time in over two decades! The prize was a trip to second division Cambridge United but sadly that proved a bridge too far for the Terras with just a single goal deciding that game but by that time they had already cemented their place in the pantheon of Weymouth’s greatest achievements.

Credits: Some wording and photos are excerpts from Dorset Echo/Dorset Evening Echo/Weymouth FC match report – all used with permission