JASON Matthews has called for his Terras’ side to “kick on” and use their FA Cup heroics as a boost for their league campaign.
Weymouth, who overcame higher-league Gosport Borough in the second qualifying round of the cup last Saturday, return to Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division action when they head to Stratford Town tomorrow (3pm).
And player-manager Matthews, who is set to have a fully fit squad to choose from, insists now is the time his side need to put a consistent run of positive results on the board.
He told Echosport: “There are obviously two winnable games away from home now in Stratford and then Cinderford, we have to make sure we don’t take our eye off the ball and start picking up some results in the league.
“We need to kick on at Stratford, although they picked up a good result against Frome last weekend.
“For me, it’s time that we knuckled down and started putting a string of results together. People may start to take us seriously then.”
Matthews made the call to go 4-4-2 last weekend and the change of shape paid dividends for the Terras, with both strikers in Ben Thomson and Stewart Yetton getting on the scoresheet.
The system is something Matthews feels he could also adopt away from home if his players “make it work”.
Asked about the shape he could opt for this weekend, the Weymouth boss replied: “We did it (4-4-2) against St Neots and it didn’t work, we did it against Gosport and it did work – it’s up to the players to make it work.
“On the whole I feel the players’ levels have been good and it’s about gelling together and getting the right team on the park for the right game and stringing some wins together.”
He added: “There is massive competition for places at the moment and competition to even get on the bench at the minute.
“People need to get in their mindset about cementing their place in the 16 at the moment, because they are not guaranteed to get on the bench.”
