Director of Football Paul Maitland praised the performance by newly promoted Taunton Town after Weymouth’s 2-1 victory over the Peacocks at the Bob Lucas Stadium on Tuesday night.
Maitland, who took up the role of Director of Football in April earlier this year said he was impressed by Taunton Town, who had came into the match on a 35-game unbeaten run.
Speaking to theterras.com Maitland said, “I thought it was a really good game, and what a game to kick off the new season at home, under lights, great crowd, great atmosphere and two really good sides who had a good go.
“I was very impressed with the way Taunton started the game, they got the early goal. We didn’t help ourselves in terms of the way we conceded it, we could have defended it a bit better, there were one or two errors in there that tend to, unfortunately, happen at the start of the season.
“I felt once Taunton got their goal they looked dangerous, the opening 15 minutes they were very much in the ascendancy. We did gradually work our way into the game more and once we sped up the movement of the ball and moved in between the lines a bit better, we started to create some clear cut chances.”
Maitland admitted that the Terras had to be patient against a Taunton Town side who were well organised and had players with a wealth of experience at this level.
“A lot of credit goes to Taunton, I felt they came with a good game plan and played into Matt Wright who is a renowned goal-scorer round this level. With him, Rocky Neal and Dan Sullivan on the sides they offered a big threat.
“The message to the boys was to stay patient, move the ball a bit better and with a bit more purpose. I felt in the second half we did that we dominated the play for large spells. The only time I felt uneasy was just after we score when they had a 10 minute spell where they used their experience to get themselves back into the game and make it difficult.
“You can see why they’ve had a really good two year period and why they will be right up amongst it this season too, that’s what makes it a better win for us. They had a good game plan, good experienced players who know how to play cleverly within the perimeters of the game.
“I don’t think this season will be any different to last season in terms that we can keep going until the end. You don’t have to win the game in the first minute but when you win it in the last minute, it doesn’t give them much time to get back into the game. I felt overall it was what we deserved in the end.”
Maitland continued to say that he felt that despite the league restructuring the league will still be full of difficult games, “There are no easy games in this league. I’ve heard a lot said over the summer about how this will be an easier league and I don’t really buy into that. You can’t make those kind of assumptions until the season finishes and everybody has played everybody.
“None of the teams that have come into the league are small teams, they’ve got good Non-League pedigree. They’ve all earned the right to be at this level so you’ve got to be respectful.”
Brandon Goodship equalised for the Terras in the second-half before Abdulai Baggie scored a dramatic winner in the dying seconds of the game. Maitland praised Baggie saying he felt the wide-man deserved his goal.
“Baggie had had a chance a few minutes earlier when the defender got back and made a block, but I thought he deserved his goal, he had a good game. Obviously, you just don’t stop Brandon from that sort of range, he literally unleashed an unstoppable shot.”
Weymouth are at home again on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off) when they play hosts to Beaconsfield Town. Maitland hailed Weymouth’s home support against Taunton Town and said it would be great to see similar crowd again this weekend.
“It took a little while for the atmosphere to get going tonight, I understand that as we went 1-0 down so early. Once the place gets rocking it really does, nothing beats a Tuesday night under lights here to keep people on the edge of their seats. Great credit to the crowd, thanks to those that come out, don’t be strangers! We would love to see you all again on Saturday.”
