WEYMOUTH Director of Football Paul Maitland says he is not really bothered by Farnborough assistant-manager Jon Reed’s stated aim of trying to spoil the party for the Terras.
Reed was speaking on Twitter not long after the Terras drew 1-1 with Poole Town, and Taunton narrowed the gap at the top to one point with victory over Merthyr.
Reed said: “Bring on Weymouth next week. They need to win to be champs. Let Farnborough spoil the party! One more big effort lads!”
However, Maitland is not bothered by it, pointing out that he would be disappointed if they did not try to.
Maitland said: “I am not really bothered.
“There have been a lot of things said by a lot of people.
“For me I would be disappointed if Farnborough did not come and try because they owe that to themselves and the integrity of the competition.”
Maitland says that the 42 games of the season will get you where you deserve to be, before pointing out that it would be odd if Reed said anything different.
Maitland said: “At the end of the day there are 22 teams in the league, the season is played over 42 games and it is 42 games worth of work that gets you where you ultimately deserve to be.
“I would never expect him to come out and say we will come to Weymouth and roll over for them. Why would they? And nor should they.
“Basingstoke won’t fold for Taunton, they can’t afford to. They have not finished too far outside the play-offs themselves Farnborough, they have had a good season.
“There have been lots of tweets and posts from players at other clubs not wanting us to win, but not necessarily saying that they want Taunton to win, well that just spurs me on. It gives me inspiration, it does not add any pressure, for me there is no pressure on the players.
“Every player that walks onto the football pitch is there because they love the game, they are there to enjoy it, and although there will be nerves around every team that is involved in a promotion or relegation this weekend, ultimately these are the games and the moments that you want to play in.”