Given the circumstances surrounding the threat of relegation being removed from the National League this season, Weymouth manager Brian Stock says he can’t fault the attitude and application of his players.
The Terras 2-1 victory over Altrincham midway through May meant that Weymouth had accomplished the feat of finishing outside the relegation zone on merit.
Stock travelled to Notts County with a reduced squad size of 15 and said he has had to put a lot of demand on his side in the latter part of the season.
This weekend his side now face the long trip to Hartlepool for the final day of the season.
“We’ve had to try and protect the club on a financial basis, we’ve furloughed seven players and released Luque,” said Stock. “We go into this weekend with a similar squad to last weekend.
“I’ve asked a lot from that squad to be able to turn out performance after performance, albeit not necessarily the results we’ve been looking for, the attitude and the application have been spot on.
“Things won’t change for this weekend, we’ll make sure we give them as much rest up until the weekend because we’re going to need it going into another tough test at Hartlepool.”
Despite the 3-0 defeat at Notts County last weekend, the performance of Ethan Ross particularly drew praise from the home supporters.
“Ethan Ross was fantastic,” continued Stock. “I felt every single player man for man worked really hard.
“When I spoke to the players after the game and I addressed them at full-time, I think it’s a real reality check of where we are as a club.
“We’ve managed to accumulate 39 points so far and finish 18th. We’re going into the last game hoping to add more points to that, but for me, that’s a great achievement considering where we’ve come from at the turn of the year.
“Sometimes you’re questioned as a manager with nothing to play for and no relegation: what’s the attitude like? What’s the application like? I felt everyone was terrific and Ethan was probably the stand out player.”
