MODEST Weymouth goalkeeper Calum Ward insisted he simply did his job during the Terras’ 0-0 Vanarama National League South draw with Billericay on Saturday.
Ward made two crucial saves, one a point-blank reaction stop from Femi Akinwande, as Weymouth kept only their second clean sheet in 18 league games.
Speaking to Echosport, Ward said: “Obviously making clean sheets is the biggest part of being a goalkeeper, even though it was 0-0 and it’s annoying not to win the game.
“I did my job, kept a clean sheet, and it’s up to the boys to get the goals which unfortunately they couldn’t do.”
Ward endured a short time out with a minor quad strain in early January but revealed he had been “sore” in the games following his comeback.
On his return from injury, he said: “I got back in and obviously I wasn’t 100 per cent straight away. I just had to manage it, try and play as much as I could because obviously it was still sore a couple of games after.
“It was only really Hemel away a few Tuesdays ago that it really started to wear off even though it was still quite sore in that game, but since then it’s gone away so it’s good to keep playing and get more game time under my belt to keep recovering.
Asked about life at Weymouth since his loan move from Bournemouth at the start of the season, he said: “It’s been good, the boys have been good to me, they’ve welcomed me well since the start of the season.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play most of the games. I missed the game on New Year’s Day and the game after against Welling away, I came back and got straight back in.
“When I was like 16, 17 I trained with some of the boys like (Jake) McCarthy, Ollie (Harfield), even though they haven’t played for Bournemouth this season obviously I know of them so they’ve helped me settle in and obviously the gaffer is under-21 assistant manager so I see him every day pretty much in training.
“We do the same sort of patterns and we try and keep the ball on the floor as much as we can but if you’ve got to go long then you have to.”
Ward was cautious on Weymouth’s play-off charge, admitting the Terras need to continue piling up results.
Quizzed on the likelihood of securing a play-off spot, he said: “I’m not sure yet, I can’t say much. I hope so. We keep grinding out results even when we’re not playing the best.”
