Jason Matthews will cherish the “unreal feeling” of watching his Weymouth side end a near 36-year wait to beat arch-rivals Yeovil Town on their own patch
Weymouth had not defeated the Glovers since Boxing Day 1988, when Peter Conning’s late-Christmas present to Terras supporters came in the 84th minute.
Just 12 minutes into the game, Brandon Goodship curled in a spectacular finish from 20 yards into the top corner to start their slice of history.
The Terras are now four victories away from Wembley and will visit Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy fourth round.
Yeovil, below par for much of the derby, battled their way back to 1-1 courtesy of a brave Aaron Jarvis header.
But Weymouth, backed by the safe hands of impressive debutant goalkeeper Josey Casa-Grande, were not to be denied and went 2-1 up on 49 minutes as Goodship calmly dispatched his second.
Yeovil boss Mark Cooper thrust five players up front in the closing stages but could not force penalties.
Instead, Weymouth came closer to extending their lead as Jaiden Bartolo and Brooklyn Genesini brought late saves from Ollie Wright and sub Euan Pollock saw a goal ruled out for offside.
The final whistle, after a combined 105 minutes including added time, invited jubilant scenes among the 375 travelling Weymouth fans and a chorus of boos from the home ranks, slating what they felt was a limp display lacking in desire, urgency and finishing quality.
Interim boss Matthews, who has now led Weymouth to two victories against Yeovil in eight months, was living in the moment at full-time.
“It’s an unreal feeling,” he said.
“It was great to engage with the fans at the end. The result is absolutely amazing but there was a togetherness in everyone. That made me incredibly proud.”
On his record against Yeovil this year, he added: “It seems to have run for me a little bit!
“I haven’t really done anything different to what I would do in a normal game. That was maybe my secret, I treated it as just another game.
“As big as it is, you can sometimes hype it up too much and you take too much out of yourself because your adrenaline is running.”
Matthews also reserved praise for star performers Goodship and Casa-Grande, the latter just 19 years old.
“It was an unbelievable performance from us, every single one of them put in a hell of a shift,” he said.
“Two amazing finishes from Brandon, the first was unbelievable into the top corner at the Thatchers End. How he must’ve felt must’ve been unreal. Massive credit to him.
“And a massive thank you to Bristol City for loaning us the goalkeeper at such short notice. The young lad was absolutely outstanding, there’s no getting away from it.
“Two or three brilliant saves and coming for crosses, he was outstanding. He might’ve misjudged the goal but what we loved about him was his character to keep coming and coming.
“He took the pressure off the defence so many times.”
However, despite excelling as caretaker twice in 2024, Matthews revealed he has not applied to succeed Mark Molesley as permanent boss.
He could still be interim for the trip to Hemel Hempstead on Saturday (3pm), adding: “I would assume so.
“The application process is finished and the board have shortlisted people they would like to speak to. Some are in this week.
“It’s up to the board to make a decision. That takes a little bit of time but you will see me in the dugout on Saturday, hopefully.
“I haven’t applied for the job, just because with my own business I feel I wouldn’t have enough time to give Weymouth Football Club what it needs.
“Unless I could give it everything, I don’t think the time is right for me.”
Weymouth earn £4,500 in prize money for the win and entertain Boreham Wood in the next round on Saturday, January 4.
