MARK Molesley believes Weymouth’s “performance warranted more” after watching the Terras slip to a 1-0 loss to Havant & Waterlooville at the Bob Lucas Stadium.
Simon Walton’s first-half header did the damage to Weymouth, who had an 87th-minute Jake McCarthy penalty expertly saved by Hawks’ keeper Ross Worden.
Despite a third loss in four league games, Weymouth remain in sixth place while Havant sail into third.
Speaking to Echosport following the defeat, Molesley admitted the result was challenging to comprehend.
“It’s a difficult one to take,” he admitted. “I felt we played well, approached the game well, created a lot of chances and were very unfortunate to be on the back end of a loss.
“Our performance warranted more, but football’s a cruel game. It wasn’t meant to be and a little bit more Lady Luck on our side we could’ve been having the three points.”
He added: “We’ve got to be more clinical in both boxes and the goal was poor from our standards to give away a set-piece just before half-time.
“It was disappointing to concede from that and we haven’t been as clinical in their box as we would’ve liked.
“I was proud of my team and we showed a good reaction to the St Albans game in the two games since.”
Having tested another of the top Vanarama National League South sides for sustained periods, Molesley was encouraged.
“There are plenty of positives we can draw from the performance,” he said.
“Ultimately, football’s a game of scoring more goals than the team you’re playing and we haven’t done that.
“We’ve come up a little short and we’ve got to look at ways where we can be a little more ruthless.
“We’ve shown enough to show that we’re not too far away. A penalty miss and a few things went in their favour.
“In tight games against good teams, sometimes that can be the difference. Havant are obviously one of the big hitters of the league.
“The fact that we competed and ran a good race shows how far we’ve come. But we don’t just want to be competing and running in this race, we want to win every game.”
Molesley believes McCarthy’s saved penalty was a clear sign of fortunes evading his team in the contest.
He said: “It’s almost like it wasn’t our afternoon. As a manager you’re looking for how the players carry out the gameplan and our processes – and they were certainly there.
“I felt we gave a good account of ourselves, so if we carry on playing like that more often than not, we’ll hope the results will be more favourable.”
Before kick-off, goalkeeper Calum Ward felt a slight reoccurrence of a troublesome quadricep injury, leading to praise from Molesley for number two gloveman Mark Childs.
“Mark stepped in and took his opportunity. I thought he was excellent and made a couple of great saves at vital times.
“He had a fantastic (league) debut, just as Ade had a fantastic debut last week. We’ve got a strong squad and we’re going to need everyone.”
