Weymouth 1-1 Torquay United: Draw shows Terras' improvement

Back in early December, Torquay beat the Terras 3-1 but this time around Weymouth more than held their own after Arkell Jude-Boyd’s scrappy opener.

Ezio Touray’s neat headed finish in the 44th minute provided the equaliser before Tom Bearwish cleared an Aaron Jarvis header off the line as Weymouth, who were otherwise comfortable, took a point.

Speaking after Weymouth’s 13th draw of the Vanarama National League South campaign, and 10th 1-1 scoreline, Wilkinson exuded his approval of the progress made.

READ MORE: Weymouth 1-1 Torquay United - report

He told Echosport: “I use the word ‘proud’ quite a lot but why I’m proud is that we’ve just competed against one of the biggest boys with one of the biggest budgets.

“My lads showed how they’ve improved in (three) months, how different they are now. We’ve just competed against Torquay and should’ve won the game.

“Yes, it was a fair result in the end if we’re all going to be honest. When I went down to them, we were a little bit intimidated and daunted by what we were going up against.

“It was still a big crowd here but you didn’t see nerves, you saw us on the front foot, working hard.

“I’m excited to continue working with these lads to see where we could end up in the next year or two, if we continue on this journey together.”

Weymouth also improved defensively, having conceded 14 times in their last four home games, limiting Torquay to very few chances.

However, the Terras did not have a shot on target in the second half despite a number of promising moves and Wilkinson waited until the 91st minute to make his first substitution.

Quizzed on his decision-making, Wilkinson added: “I wanted to make a change but I’ll tell you why I didn’t, because we were so set.

“If you can’t win it, don’t lose it. You’ve got to remember that I’ve lost three out of the last four.

“I didn’t make a change because everyone just knew their jobs. If I make a change and he doesn’t follow his runner, that’s my fault.

“If I don’t make a change and they score, it’s my fault. So, what I did was I went with my experience, just keep the boys on the pitch that knew their roles, and it worked.

“Could I have brought Robbo (Dan Roberts) on a bit earlier? Maybe, but if I take (Malachi) Linton off with that presence and power up top against their power, then they can overpower Robbo.

“Tactically, I thought to stick with what you know. It was 50-50 and it worked, because I didn’t lose.”

Meanwhile, with Weymouth having six loanees in their squad, Harry Jones was the unfortunate player to miss out on matchday as Weymouth fielded their full quota of five.

Wilkinson added: “It broke my heart telling him, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t want to leave him out, so I went for the keeper (Harvey Wiles-Richards).”

Harvey Wiles-Richards made a solid debut despite slipping for Torquay's goal (Image: MARK PROBIN)

And highlighting the debut display of Bristol City loanee Wiles-Richards, who slipped before the Torquay goal, Wilkinson told Weymouth’s media team: “He brings another presence.

“I wanted a bit more competition and I wanted to show people as a manager I don’t stand still.

“Gez (Benfield) has been brilliant all season and I just felt he might need a rest. I got home and got straight on the phone.

“Fair play to the club for backing me, especially Paul (Maitland, chairman). He supported me straight away.”

Wilkinson added: “The keeper said he slipped, otherwise he would’ve claimed it. So, it’s another soft goal but I’m not going to dwell on it.

“I looked how he performed for the 90 minutes and he was outstanding. That was a big gamble what I did.

“Ninety per cent of managers would’ve left Gez in, who hasn’t done a lot (wrong). I sensed something wasn’t quite right.

“That was a tough coffee that I had with Gez and a tough decision to make but guess what? That’s what I’m here to do. I think it worked.”