JASON Matthews hailed the spirits of his Weymouth squad for digging in to earn an FA Trophy replay with Havant & Waterlooville after the sides battled out a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Weymouth will be in the hat alongside the Hawks for the second round draw today, having played for 62 minutes of the clash at the Bob Lucas Stadium with only 10 men.

Commenting on the display, on his one-year anniversary as manager, the Terras’ boss told Echosport: “I am chuffed to bits. Havant try to play good football and they have good players, and we matched them.

“I had a couple of saves to make but on the whole I am really pleased.

“It just reiterates what good team spirit we have got. I have got lads carrying knocks but we dug in and at the end I felt we were the stronger side.

“Maybe we could have done without a replay but, with the way we played, I would have been disappointed to have lost.”

The Weymouth chief agreed with referee Steven Plane’s decision to give Jamie Laird his marching orders midway through the first half, but backed his central defender to respond positively.

“It’s just one of those,” Matthews added.

“There is nothing to talk about, Jamie knows it’s a red and that’s the way it goes.

“He will want to make amends and Jamie has done superb for me. He is a true pro and is another one of the lads I brought in who has been fantastic.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow night’s replay, the player-manager also revealed that skipper Stewart Yetton is touch and go to feature, after he picked up a groin injury.

“He will be 50/50 I would have thought but Yetts being Yetts he will want to play,” he added.

“Shep (Chris Shephard) will still be injured and hopefully Tim Sills will be back.”

Tomorrow replay also means the Terras’ scheduled trip to Frome on Wednesday is postponed.