Paul Maitland believes persistence is key for Weymouth

WEYMOUTH assistant manager Paul Maitland said he was pleased with the ‘huff and puff’ win against Biggleswade Town in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division.

The victory was the Terras’ third successive 2-0 win at home in the league and they have now lost just one of their past five games in all competitions.

Maitland said: “It was quite an untypical Weymouth performance in that it was a lot of huff and puff.”

The goals came from a superb curling effort from Josh Wakefield in the 33rd minute and a volley from Harry Baker in the 67th minute.

Acknowledging their good form Maitland said: “It was really important that we are now starting to string those results together at home and make this a bit of a fortress.”

The match saw the return of Brandon Goodship to the bench and he came on in the 75th minute, firing a late shot at Liam Gooch in the Biggleswade goal.

Maitland said: “He has been missed while he has been away. He is the talisman of the team and you can’t afford to be without them for too long.”

The win puts Weymouth into second in the table with 40 points, four points behind current leaders King’s Lynn Town.

Despite the win Maitland admitted: “I probably felt we played better in the other two games but the positive again is a clean sheet at home.

“We didn’t start the season so well in terms of keeping the clean sheets and getting the good results.”

The Terras were putting good pressure on the Waders when the breakthrough came courtesy of Wakefield’s effort.

Maitland said: “It would have been easy for him to lash it over.”

“But he hasn’t, he’s caressed the ball with good technique into the top corner and the keeper has had absolutely no chance.”

The match was made more comfortable when Harry Baker put the ball into the net from a tight angle on the volley.

Maitland said: “It’s the sort of goal that if anybody is going to score that goal it will be Harry, because not many players would try to hook it over everybody from the by line and just drop it in the far corner.”

The goal led to a lull in the game as it seemed to dent the Waders, who had been playing well in the second half and putting pressure on Mark Travers in goal.

Maitland said: “It was important because it took the sting out of them a little bit more and we were able to soak up the pressure that they put on us.”

Maitland summed up the match by saying: “At the end of the day the most important thing is that we’ve picked up three points. We move into the next game, no fresh injuries with players coming back.”

Prior to the match the Terras announced the return of Stephane Zubar who had left in the Summer for Yeovil.

The fans warmly greeted his name when it was read out prior to the start of the match and he got 78 minutes before being replaced by Toby Down.

Maitland said: “He is a hugely popular figure here, particularly in the changing room the lads were excited to see him on Thursday at training and we are over the moon to have him back.”

Maitland is looking at the game in the wider context however, saying: “That said there is still a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of improvements to make. We know that we may well have won today but it’s all about the process and it’s all about taking another step forward.

“If I’m honest and I think we will probably look back on this at the end of the season, as you do any game that you win, and think well that was a better result then perhaps it may look right now.”

The Terras are next in action when they are away at Basingstoke Town in the league on Tuesday.