HAMWORTHY UTD RES 1 WEYMOUTH RES  0

DESPITE seeing his side suffer a third straight defeat in the Magna Dorset Premier League, joint-boss Jake Richmond declared himself delighted with the Terras’ efforts.

An early strike from Dan Manuel was enough to secure victory for Hamworthy United Reserves but Richmond refused to be downbeat after witnessing a marked improvement from their previous outing – a 5-0 hammering at Blandford.

The Weymouth Reserves’ chief said: “I was downhearted after the Blandford game but I certainly wasn’t after Tuesday night.

“I asked the players for a reaction and I got it. I was delighted with the performance and that is what we were after.

“For effort I would give everyone 10 out of 10. Performance-wise I would rank the first half a seven and the second half a nine, we just couldn’t get the goal.

“The minimum we deserved was a point but Tuesday night was all about the performance as I’m not interested in whether we have lost our last three games.

“The players are under pressure to perform but they are not under pressure to get results.”

Richmond added: “In recent games we have conceded goals and our heads have dropped but that didn’t happen at Hamworthy.

“Largely we bossed it but we couldn’t get the break we needed.

“We had a lot of efforts but we didn’t test their keeper enough in truth. The build-up play was good though, and we played with a high tempo in the second half.

“Other than the goal, Chris Povall only had one save to make in each half. The first you would expect him to save while the other was a one-on-one and he saved with his feet.”

The Terras were able to call upon the services of first-team strikers Mark Ford and Matt Groves at the County Ground.

And Richmond paid tribute to the latter’s influence, saying: “It made a massive difference having Groover in the team.

“At that level he is a class act and he was barking out orders and pulling people into position.

“If I had a player like that on the pitch every week it would certainly help the younger ones a lot more.

“Hopefully Groover has seen some good things that he can tell Brendon King about.”

The reserves visit their Bridport counterparts this weekend.

Terras: Povall, Sharpe, Anstey, Doidge, Zima, Morley, Greatrex, Winsper, Beasley (Head 60), Groves, Ford. Subs not used: Frame, Perry.