Unsung hero Simon keeps play-off focus for Weymouth (From Dorset Echo)

Unsung hero Simon keeps play-off focus for Weymouth

8:30am Saturday 16th March 2013 in Sport By David Williams, Sports Reporter

SIMON Evans is happy with the set-up at the Terras and is confident they can maintain their hot-streak in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division.

The Weymouth stopper has been one of the club’s unsung heroes of late and he is adamant better is yet to come as he continues to improve under the guidance of new goalkeeping coach Paul Maitland.

The 25-year-old told Echosport: “It’s going okay considering the start to the season I had, which wasn’t great for me, or the team.

“Getting a goalkeeping coach in has helped me as well in the last six weeks, which I wouldn’t have thought would have when I was younger.

“He’s certainly brought a lot to my game and he can identify where things are going wrong from a goalkeeping perspective and defensively too.

“I needed to work on my fitness because in December I was the heaviest I’d ever been and since then I’ve lost more than half a stone and I’ll continue to lose weight.

“I’m enjoying life at Weymouth and if you saw me run half the length of the pitch to celebrate the winner against Banbury then you’d have seen that.”

Evans has also put his improved form down to a strong defence in front of him. He added: “I think the style of football we are playing now is more like non-League football and we’re not trying to play like Barcelona, which didn’t really get us anywhere.

“We’ve shored up the defence with Ashley Wells and Ed Palmer and that has certainly helped me.

“Knowing what the back three are doing has given me more time to think about what I’m doing.

“It’s made a massive difference. As a team it has given us more confidence.

“It doesn’t work for everyone but at this level with two big centre backs and a sweeper it is working for us.”

The Terras travel to second-placed Stourbridge this afternoon (3pm) looking to stretch their winning run in the league to six games. And Evans, who has found it hard to settle in recent seasons, is adamant they have what it takes to pick up a result.

He said: “I signed for Rushden & Diamonds in January 2011, then they were wound up that summer and I thought I was really big and I’d drop down a level to play and it would be no problem.

“I joined Dorchester Town but I wasn’t fit and in fairness to them they pushed me out to Hamworthy on loan.

“It was there that I realised that I needed to start working more on my fitness because I knew I had to if I wanted to play at a decent level.

“Brendon King then gave me a chance here at Weymouth and thankfully I showed my value in a couple of pre-season games.”

He continued: “We’ve got great camaraderie in the squad and we’ll certainly give Stourbridge a run for their money this afternoon.

“The teams around us have still got a game in hand but we have got points on the board so the pressure is on them.

“We are looking really good at the moment and we should be in the mix come the end of the season.”