WEYMOUTH boss Jason Matthews is on the hunt to secure a new permanent assistantmanager to add to his backroom staff for next season.

The player-manager revealed to Echosport he is likely to be holding talks with two people about the role next week, but did not rule out speaking to any other possible candidates.

Speaking about the search, Matthews told Echosport: “I will be meeting a couple of people next week.

“It is something that I will be looking to tie up by the end of season presentation. That will then be done and dusted and we will take it from there.

“But nothing is set in stone at the moment and that’s the way I want it to stay for the next week or so.”

One man not in the running to become the permanent number two at the Bob Lucas Stadium is Terras’ favourite Trevor Challis, who was brought back to the club in an advisory role at the start of April following the departure of former assistant Craig Laird.

“Trev is not in a position to do it at this time but he loved his spell here and it’s a shame,” the Weymouth chief added.

“He did make his mark in the short time he was here and you could see that the lads respected Trev. It may be something we can look at in the future as we continue to build the club.

“It was really good to have him around. He is a really good friend of mine and I’d personally like to thank Trev.”

On the playing side of things, Matthews, who has already tied down playmaker Chris Shephard on a one-year contract, also claimed a number of the current squad are in talks to land new deals at the club for next term.

“I want to keep continuity within the squad but I also realise that there is a little bit of tinkering to be done,” he added.

“It won’t be massive, and we are very close to signing three or four more of this season’s current squad.”

Claret and Blue Lottery result: 1 Ian White (Weymouth), 2 Ian Gardner (Moonfleet), 3 Fran Torode (Guernsey).