‘DELIGHTED’ Weymouth boss Brian Stock cut a relieved figure after the Terras recorded their maiden Vanarama National League win of the season by beating King’s Lynn 2-1.
In defeating the Linnets, who saw Rory McAuley sent off for an incident with Brennan Camp, the Terras also scored their first goals of the season.
Cody Cooke put the hosts into a half-time lead with an instinctive finish from six yards before Adam Marriott levelled eight minutes into the second period.
In an action-packed finale, Marriott won and took a penalty, brilliantly saved by Jack Bycroft, before McAuley earned a second yellow for an apparent headbutt.
Weymouth hit the post late on through Sean Shields, who then won a penalty as sub Ross Barrows handballed.
Tom Whelan was trusted with the spot-kick and he made no mistake to hand the Terras a precious three points against a fellow promoted side.
“I’m delighted to get the win, don’t get me wrong – oh my God,” Stock told Echosport.
“That felt good. If I was to look at the performance it’s not been our best by any means.
“The message to the players was ‘we’ve now got that win, we’ve now scored a goal’.
“It was vital to get the win. Sometimes when you don’t have that it plays on people’s minds and the longer it goes on it’s not good for anyone.”
Stock also had praise for Cooke’s opener, adding: “Great finish – we lost Shamir (Mullings) in training on Thursday.
“Cody’s come in up top and led the line very well. It wasn’t our best performance.
“When we look at the stats and how we want to play we came a little bit short, we were a little bit naïve as well but we’ve got three points.”
Despite the defeat, King’s Lynn enjoyed dangerous passages of play and Stock respected the Linnets’ display.
He said: “They’re a good side and have got some good footballers. They’ve caused us a lot of problems.
“We had to match them up just to get a grip of the game. They were getting in between the lines very well and we were holding on at one point.
“Obviously with Jack saving the penalty those are the sorts of moments in games where it’s almost a match-winning save.
“He’s got a lot of potential, Jack. He’s come in here and taken to the group very well.
“Performance-wise he’s been exceptional and the penalty save just showed what ability he has.”
Commenting on the red card, Stock said: “I just (saw) a mix-up. They might argue there might’ve been an initial foul previous to that.
“You can’t react that way. We were fortunate with Corey (Jordan) in the first half, there was a kerfuffle in the corner.
“Fortunately for us the referee saw sense to not book anyone and let the game flow but (McAuley) was an occasion where he had to take action.”
On Weymouth’s penalty, Stock added: “It’s one of those that the referee’s in a better position than anyone else to give the penalty.
“(King’s Lynn) will probably think it’s a weak one to give but in fairness to Tom he’s come on the pitch, made an impact again and tucked the penalty away really nicely.”
