WEYMOUTH’S home clash with arch-rivals Yeovil Town on Tuesday evening has been postponed.
Weymouth’s squad was placed into full isolation due to a Covid-19 outbreak following the 2-1 win at Stockport on Saturday, October 31.
Brian Stock’s men are permitted to emerge from that circuit-breaker on Monday.
Yet, after consultation with league doctors, the Yeovil clash has been delayed on player safety grounds.
Terras’ director of football Paul Maitland told Echosport: “The bottom line is we were faced with lockdown until tomorrow night, which left us one day to train.
“We’ve not seen the players since Stockport over two weeks ago; that’s not ideal.
“It’s also because we’re having to make an assessment on whether the players are physically fit to play, without seeing them.
“We had planned to train on Monday night, a very light session, to see how everybody is and how they’ve recovered. Everybody will recover at different speeds.
“We’d effectively be going into Tuesday’s game without knowing who would be available, which doesn’t seem right.
“We’d be in danger of asking players to put themselves at risk when we don’t know the full extent of their recovery.”
On the affected players’ health, Maitland added: “Those that have been ill seem to be well on the mend. We’ve got to do this right and think about people’s cardiovascular recovery.
“There’s been a strain on their lungs and heart, they’ve had to battle the illness.
“It would be naïve to expect players to be capable of playing 90 minutes on the Tuesday at the pace the National League is played at. It wouldn’t be sensible.
“Talking with the club’s doctor and (National League) medical team, we’ve all agreed it would be taking an unnecessary risk at this juncture.
“The sensible thing is to not play Tuesday, have the players in next week for training, make those assessments and give them a bit of extra time to make sure they’re fully over this.
“What you don’t want to have happen is to come out of isolation and Wednesday morning be back in (isolation) because we’ve come back too soon.
“We’re not talking about one player having an injury, we’re talking about a group that’s been affected.
“Now we have to make sure we’re fully over it before we interact them.”
Elaborating on the squad’s plans, Maitland said: “We’re not expecting all of them to train Monday.
“There’s still a few that are still feeling effects and aren’t going to be physically ready to train Monday.
“As for the ones that are, the session will be based on seeing where they are in terms of their recovery.
“The ones that haven’t been affected will train properly. Rushing into playing Tuesday would’ve been naïve and also would’ve potentially put people at risk.
“Let’s face it, the whole country is taking precautions to avoid unnecessary risk. I’d feel we’d be going against that.”
No date has been set for fulfilment of the fixture.
Weymouth’s clash with Solihull Moors next Saturday has been postponed after the Midlands side recorded a positive Covid-19 test.
The Terras next host Chesterfield on Saturday, November 28.
Boreham Wood were due to entertain Weymouth on Tuesday, December 1 but that match will also need rearranging due to TV scheduling.
