Weymouth take positives from Bournemouth battle
WEYMOUTH 0
BOURNEMOUTH U23 6
Surridge 10, 13 Boote 49, 65 Buckley (og) 75 Jordan 87
MARK Molesley was pleased with how much his side got out of their first pre-season friendly which saw them lose 6-0 to Bournemouth Under-23s, but admitted it gives them plenty to work on.
Despite the wide margin Molesley confessed that the result was not paramount as the Terras aim to prepare for the start of their season on Saturday, August 11.
Molesley said: “We got loads out of it, it is all about building fitness at this stage of the season and playing a young fit under-23 premiership side was fantastic.”
The match came just one week after Weymouth resumed pre-season training at Blandford School.
Molesley said: “Physically that is what it is about at this stage of the season, the performance was by no means polished, there were quite a few mistakes but there were quite a lot of new faces dusting off the cobwebs.
“The main thing is how we arrive on August 11 and that was a good fitness test and a good yard stick, you learn a lot so it is not all bad I would not usually say it but the result is not paramount at the moment it is getting the legs in and looking at the performance and it gives us plenty of food for thought and plenty to work on.
When asked if he was expecting that sort of performance from Bournemouth given his connections Molesley said: “Without a doubt, fortunately enough I work with those boys every day and I know exactly how sharp and how good they are. I want to challenge Weymouth and our group and I want to show the levels I want them to try and get to.”
Weymouth announced the signing of Lloyd Thomas from Horndean during the match and he started and conceded twice during the first-half.
Molesley said: “I am really happy, I thought he had a good first half, he was comfortable receiving the ball, he fits our profile as a goalkeeper.
“He is a good size and has a good attitude, he seems like a good lad. He is going to be pushing (Jordan) Seabright for that number one jersey.”
Bournemouth took the lead when Frank Vincent curled a lovely ball in from just inside the box which Sam Surridge fired in past Lloyd Thomas in the Weymouth goal in the 10th minute.
Sturridge then added a second from in off the post and came close to a third when Thomas made a superb save to deny him six minutes later.
Weymouth were able to create but not enough to really threaten despite nice snippets of play.
A trialist then put Harry Baker through but he got driven wide and with a defender covering he shot straight at Travers.
Their best chance came late on in the first half when a trialist chipped the ball in towards Baker who headed wide and moments later Goodship charged through the centre of the pitch before curling a shot at Travers.
The second half saw a raft of changes for both sides but Boote added two further goals, Callum Buckley scored an own-goal before Corey Jordan rounded off the scoring.
Weymouth host Kingstonian on Saturday (3pm).
Terras: Thomas, Wells, Trialist, Ngalo, McCarthy, Davis, Lee, Baker, Goodship, Trialist. Subs: Buckley, Seabright, Wakefield, Carmichael, Trialist, Baggie, Farrugia, Trialist, Sa, Trialist, Trialist.
Bournemouth: Travers, Seaman, Martin, Vincent, Gardner, Hobson, Adedeji, Worthington, Surridge, Whitefield, Anthony. Subs: Glover, Dennis, Jordan, Sheering, Gilella, Boote, Ofoborh, Gilkenny, O’Connell, Dobre, Nippard