Brice is ready for relegation fight (From Dorset Echo)

Brice is ready for relegation fight

9:04am Monday 4th January 2010 in Club News By Ky Capel

SKIPPER Scott Brice hopes to lead the Terras out of the Blue Square South drop-zone by the end of the month.

Weymouth closed the gap on 19th-placed Worcester City to five points courtesy of a 2-0 New Year’s Day triumph over fierce rivals Dorchester Town.

And given the fact they have a game in hand over City, captain Brice is determined to pull the Terras out of danger by January 31 – following encounters with Worcester and fellow strugglers Lewes.

Asked if he and his fellow troops are more confident than ever of avoiding the drop, Brice replied: “Definitely. Winning 2-0 is a great result against anyone in this league. It’s a great start to the New Year and we’re now looking to crack on.

“We’ve got a game in hand over Worcester and Weston-super-Mare and we’ve still got to play a lot of the teams around us. By the end of January we want to be out of the bottom three, looking to push on. However, we’re not going to get carried away.”

Brice also believes that boss Ian Hutchinson will prove to be a crucial component in Weymouth’s fight for survival.

Reflecting on last week’s speculation linking former manager Garry Hill with a return to the Wessex Stadium, the defender said: “You hear certain things but the boys are fully behind Hutch.

“He’s put points on the board and got us moving in the right direction, so there’s no real need to upset the ship.

“I told the players after the Dorchester game that there’s no pressure on us, but if we don’t perform then it could be the end of Hutch.

“In the last seven weeks we’ve kept five clean sheets and that’s testament to the way Hutch has got us set up.

“We keep two tight banks of four and that makes it difficult for teams to score. And on Friday we limited Dorchester very well – they did hit a post but I don’t remember Ryan Harrison being called into action too often.”

The Terras may have lost key players prior to Christmas in the form of Jake Reid and David Obaze but Brice is more than happy with the efforts of the current squad members and those recently added to the ranks.

He added: “What’s also nice is that we’ve introduced three new players – Scott Bennett, Pierre Joseph-Dubois and Stephen Reed – and they’ve slotted in brilliantly.

“Jake, as a target man, carried a lot of weight on his shoulders but Josh Llewellyn has taken it upon himself to go and win headers you wouldn’t expect him to be able to win.

“Pierre’s also stepped in, he got a goal on Friday and he and Josh appear to have clicked.”

* Weymouth have had a bid for Cambridge United striker Danny Crow rejected by the Blue Square Premier club.

Terras' chairman George Rolls, previously at the helm of United, has admitted to making a cash offer for Crow.

Rolls did not comment on how much the Blue Square South strugglers had bid but claimed he may make an improved offer for the forward as well as approaches for other Abbey-based players.

He told the Cambridge News: "It helps knowing a few of the lads at Cambridge and I’m sure we’ll be looking to bring in some of them on loan."