PAUL Maitland believes the Terras' staggering drop in form during the second half of the season has provided the squad with a big lesson.

The Terras went from title hopefuls to missing out on the play-offs in agonising fashion over the latter half of the campaign.

But the Weymouth first-team goalkeeping coach believes the current squad, who he is hoping the majority of which will stay together, has learnt from the experience.

“There is no doubt about it, we fell away,” Maitland told Echosport.

“But we have learnt a lot from it and we probably learnt more from that than we did when we were on that unbelievable run earlier in the season.

“I think we overachieved at the start of the season and with that brings its own pressure.

“I think in the end we finished seventh because we had to chase results at the end of the season and some of them made it look worse than what it actually was.

“It was always going to be about progression and building something.”

Looking ahead to next term, Maitland believes that there are already positives to take into consideration.

“It’s obviously great news we have Chris Shephard signed and Stewart Yetton was on a two-year deal anyway. They are guys you want to build your team around going forward,” he added “That helps to attract other players but I don’t think there will be a massive cull anyway.

“We have probably got to look at how we play away from home and see if there is a better way to go. Does that mean we need a different type of player when we are away? It probably does.

“We have a list of players we would like to look at but you don’t want to rush and spend all your money now and miss out on someone that you think could make a bigger difference.

“Jase and I have both spoken to a fair few players already but everyone is waiting to see what they get offered from their current clubs.”