MARK Molesley said he was hurting and that he hopes his players are as well following their 2-1 loss at home to Basingstoke Town in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier South.

Calvin Brooks rescued a late goal, but strikes from Harry Pearse and Sam Smart saw Weymouth lose to the Dragons.

Molesley said: “I am hurting, I hope my players are hurting because they have set their standards, they have showed how good they can be and when you do not see it for such a long period of the game you question why.

“I have got to reflect and look back at the game and see why that wasn’t.

“That last half an hour showed what we are about and fortunately we showed a glimpse of us.

“I think that is the only positive we can take out of the game is our last half an hour’s performance because the first 60 minutes I do not want to be seeing again.”

Molesley praised the Dragons, stating that their league position of 17th is “obviously false” while he also bemoaned the slow start from his side that saw them go a goal down after 18 minutes.

Molesley said: “It was a real bad start from us, a hesitant start, a lack of energy. We knew that Basingstoke are a good side. Their league position is obviously false.

“We always have good, hard games against them but you have to look at your own camp, your own changing room and collectively as a group we were severely lacking from the standards we have set ourselves and that is really disappointing.”

Molesley also reiterated the importance of the game, emphasised by how a win would have sent the Terras a point behind Taunton Town with two games in hand over the Peacocks.

Molesley said: “Everyone knows the importance of the game, how important this is.

“The last half an hour we obviously looked very good and looked like ourselves again and we have had over 20 crosses in that second half but could not get on the end of them, but that is just in the last half an hour.

“But it is no good turning up for the last half an hour of a game. The first 60 minutes was nowhere near good enough from our standards. That is something that we need to address and address quickly.

“We have got a big week’s training ahead of us and another tough game coming up (on Saturday).”

The match came close to being the first league match all season in which the Terras have failed to score, before Brooks popped up with a goal late on.

When asked why he thought the attack struggled, Molesley replied: “Look 20 crosses into the box suggests that we created a lot of chances but there is a whole host of things.

“I think the quality going into the box, the timing of the runs into the box probably was not quite good enough.

“Also some fantastic defending from them. They were fighting for their lives and they were putting their bodies on the line and blocking and they defended really well.

“So disappointing from us to have that much territory and that many chances to not fashion some more goals and it’s something we need to work hard and improve on.”