PLAYMAKER Chris Shephard is set to return to the Terras’ ranks as they do battle at Cirencester Town this evening (7.45pm).

The Weymouth ace, who missed the weekend’s 2-1 home victory over Hungerford through unavailability, is expected to boost Jason Matthews’ squad as they take on the Centurions.

Mark Molesley is still suspended, defender Pat Baldwin remains out with a calf injury.

Speaking ahead of the clash, Matthews told Echosport: “Chris Shephard will be available again which gives us another good option, we look forward to having Shep back.

“He is nearly at full speed now. Missing Saturday didn’t help but I know he is a good lad and he will obviously have done a bit on Sunday to get ready.

“Cirencester did extremely well last year and Brian Hughes is a good manager.

“We will treat them with the respect they deserve.”

The Centurions knocked Dorchester Town out of the FA Cup earlier this month before falling to Weymouth’s conquerors Petersfield Town on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Terras’ chief also elaborated further on a post he sent out on Twitter following Saturday’s win, in which he believed his side “showed character to come out and prove the knockers wrong”.

He said: “Although the performance was poor in the first half, I feel a few people in the ground are becoming a little bit impatient if we don’t play perfect football straight away.

“They are entitled to their opinion and we weren’t good enough in the first half. That becomes a little bit frustrating when you are playing the crowd at home.

“I am just finding it a little bit frustrating and, no matter what we seem to do, we seem to be finding a lot of knockers at the minute.

“In saying that, I felt the boys behind the goal were brilliant again, so it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.”

He added: “For me, it is about racking up the points and the bigger picture is the end of the season.

“We were top around Christmas last year and fell short, this year I am determined we are not going to.

“If that means we have to upset a few people along the way, that’s what needs to happen and that’s the way it is.”