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Palmer agrees Weymouth terms
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| WEYMOUTH have re-secured the services of central-defender Ed Palmer following their 2-2 draw with Plymouth Argyle.Palmer, who has trialled with the club over pre-season and was named in manager Jason Matthews’ starting XI for Saturday’s clash, played just more than an hour against the Pilgrims and now becomes a permanent member of the Weymouth squad on non-contract terms.
Talking about his new recruit, boss Matthews told Echosport: “Ed has agreed to sign, and it is fantastic news for us because we really wanted him on board. “We are still in negotiations with Chris McPhee and a big part of that is still based on the Wessex Fantasy League. “We are working towards our aims, I have a budget to work to and as much as I want success on the pitch, we need to build the club. “I am pleased with who I have brought in, I would like Chris McPhee and we are still in negotiations but whether we can get him or not the next week will tell. “I urge the fans, if they want Chris McPhee, to buy into the fantasy football because every little helps.” On the game itself, in which the Terras performed strongly against Football League opposition, he added: “It was our first big game of pre-season without being disrespectful to the other teams we have played. “In the first half I would say we had more possession, scored two cracking goals and what we have worked on in training showed on the pitch, and the atmosphere in the ground showed people are buying into what we are trying to do, which is really pleasing. “You can see how hard it is to get the ball back from a side like Plymouth and we hunted in packs, didn’t give in, and when we got the ball we kept it very well and gave them a good work out. “We are building towards August 9, that is the most important thing. We are four games unbeaten now and there are a lot of positives to take out of the game.” AFTER dictating the game in the opening exchanges, new recruit Chris Shephard put the Terras in front when he found space on the edge of the area and rifled a left-footed strike past James Bittner into the Argyle net, to put the hosts ahead on eight minutes. But Weymouth’s advantage was short lived. Terras’ trialist Jordan Copp brought down Plymouth’s Aaron Bentley on the left hand side of the area, and Nathan Thomas was then on hand to clinically despatch the resulting spot-kick home to level things up. Stewart Yetton then got the goal he craved against his old club on 28 minutes when he sharply finished Shane Krac’s cutback from the right-hand side to restore the home side’s advantage to put them ahead at the break. Plymouth freshened up their ranks with a whole host of changes at the interval and substitute Kelvin Mellor poked home a scruffy effort to equalise on 56 minutes, as trialist goalkeeper Kyle Moore, who had only been on the pitch five minutes having replaced Matthews, was powerless to stop the ball trickling over the line at his near post. Argyle replacement Jason Banton then started to look lively in the second half and should have made it 3-2 in the Pilgrims’ favour, but after skipping past two Weymouth defenders, he blazed his shot well over from eight yards out. Plymouth applied pressure late on, but Matthews’ men shut out the League Two outfit for the remainder of the clash and secured a well earned draw.
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