Michael Jackson admits he was too tired to do his namesake’s famous Moonwalk after opening his Weymouth account against Welling United at the Wessex Stadium on Saturday.
The former Totton striker sealed a priceless victory for the Terras with a headed effort, nine minutes into the second half.
Earlier, the hosts had gone behind to a fifth minute strike by Paul Booth before Steve Tully levelled from the penalty spot two minutes later.
Jackson said: “Obviously the lads in the dressing room give me some stick about my name but it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. The worst of the lot is Danny Bailey who sings a Michael Jackson song every time he sees me.
“We hatched a plan that when I scored my first goal for Weymouth I’d celebrate by doing the Moonwalk. To be honest though I was just too tired to think about it.”
He added: “But I’ll definitely do it next time I score and hopefully that will be the goal that confirms Weymouth survival in the Dr Martens Premier Division.”
Described by manager Geoff Butler as the `find of the season’, Jackson says he has no regrets about turning his back on the Wessex League in which he scored goals for fun at Testwood Park.
He explained: “I never doubted that a move to Weymouth would be great for my career, but I’d only just joined Totton from Winchester when Geoff Butler came in for me and so I didn’t want to get a reputation for being a club hopper.
“But I had a chat with Totton’s manager and he was fine about me going and I’m really enjoying playing for a big club like Weymouth and pitting myself against quality players in front of bigger crowds at much better venues.
“Everything about the club is great from the boys in the dressing room to the fans on the terraces. Everyone’s made me really welcome and it’s just great to get that first goal out of the way. If I hadn’t made the move I think I would have always regretted it and hopefully I can keep my place in the side long term and help the club go on and achieve some deserved success.”
And anyone who thinks the Terras are going down this season is living in Neverland, according to Jackson.
“The spirit among the lads is terrific,” he said, “and we’re determined to get ourselves out of trouble. We know what we’ve got to do to achieve that and this was one of the games we had to win.
“The other two are Hednesford away and Hastings at home although there’s no reason why we can’t pick up points from all our remaining fixtures.”
The Terras welcomed back three senior players from injury in John Waldock, Mark Robinson and Lee Phillips, while Jamie Impey picked up the sponsor’s man of the match award on his first outing since moving on loan from Forest Green.
But the best tonic of all for home supporters was the sight of Danny Bailey in midfield – the veteran has signed on for the rest of the campaign having quit his assistant manager’s role at Leyton Pennant.
Weymouth boss Geoff Butler added: “It’s great to have Danny back and we’ve got the chairman Terry Bennett to thank for that. He had a chat with Danny and somehow managed to persuade him and I’m delighted that he did.
“It was an important win for us today although we can’t get carried away because although we’ve moved way up the table, not many results went our way. But we couldn’t have done any more ourselves and the three points give us a real fighting chance.
“It was great to have people like John and Robbo back and I thought they both played superbly. Jamie Impey will get better, while Steve Tully continues to improve with each outing and I was really pleased to see Michael Jackson score his first goal for the club.”
* Jackson will miss the games at Bath City on April 21 and at home to Hastings on April 26 because he is suspended for seven days following bookings picked up at former clubs Winchester and Totton.
