Maitland – Keep up workrate

WEYMOUTH assistant-manager Paul Maitland has urged the Terras to “keep working hard” ahead of their trip to face Bishop’s Stortford in the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier tomorrow (3pm).

After losing 1-0 at home to St Ives on Saturday, Weymouth responded in fine fashion with a terrific 4-1 win away to a strong Frome Town side to earn their first points of the campaign.

But Maitland told Echosport he is not getting carried away with the result.

He said: “We laid down a marker. We have been working hard and having a bit of a go. You don’t win anything after two games of the season.

“We didn’t lose the league on Saturday and we didn’t win the league against Frome. We have got to prepare for the next game and keep working hard.

“Bishop’s Stortford will be another tough side. We’ll have to set up and try and get another positive result if we can.”

Commenting after the Frome game, Maitland said the players executed the “ugly side” of the game to improve on the St Ives loss.

“I think Saturday was a bit frustrating for us. The players know that they didn’t play well and they were in the mood to put it right and they have.

“It was a difficult game, there’s no easy games in this league. It’s one win, that’s all it is. Frome are notoriously very, very good at home.

“It’s a difficult place to go but we put in a very professional performance. We did the ugly side of the game really well and we were fairly comfortable.

“It was hard work, graft and determination, which was important after Saturday,” he said.

Elaborating on the goals, Maitland praised Josh Wakefield for getting the Terras off to a “great start” with a goal after 28 seconds.

He said: “He took a shot early and got us off to a great start. We were a bit unfortunate with the equaliser, we got punished, but we kept plugging away and we deserved to go in at half-time 2-1 up.

“I thought Ben Thomson’s goal was good. He created it out of nothing. It’s good for him, he deserved it and worked hard, as did everybody.”

Weymouth announced a trio of new signings before kick-off, with goalkeeper Gareth Stewart, Antonio Diaz and goalscorer Jordan Rose all making their debuts, with Maitland particularly positive about the latter.

“Jordan has come in from Havant on a month’s loan. His impact was immediate and he made a good impression. He had a very good debut but they all did very well,” he said.

Maitland also revealed that there are no new injury concerns for the Terras ahead of the match at Woodside Park.

Weymouth Reserves continue their Sydenhams Wessex Division One campaign with the visit of Folland Sports to the Bob Lucas Stadium tomorrow (3pm).