WEYMOUTH boss Jason Tindall has identified the shock home defeat against Stafford Rangers on September 22 as the catalyst for his side's recent upturn in fortunes.

The Terras were booed off the pitch after that 3-1 loss but since then they have put on four fine performances which have heralded seven points.

The latest of those came at Grays Athletic last night where second-half goals by James Coutts and Jefferson Louis landed them a 2-0 win and moved them up to 15th place in the Blue Square Premier table.

Speaking after the game, Tindall said: "The best thing that happened to us was that loss against Stafford because it made everyone realise how hard they have to work if they want to achieve things.

"In our last four games the lads have given everything and it's great that they are now getting their rewards."

Weymouth are now unbeaten in their last three games but perhaps more significantly they have now also kept two successive clean sheets.

Tindall said: "We have been working extremely hard on our defending and it's great that it is beginning to pay off. We are defending well as a team now and tonight the lads got the result they deserved.

"For the first 20 minutes they put us under pressure. They played 4-3-3 but we managed to weather the storm.

"We defended well when we had to although they did still have a couple of half chances which on another day they might have taken.

"At half-time we switched things around a bit and sorted out a few problems and in the second half we dominated.

"We scored two good goals and once the second one went in we knew that as long as we kept our concentration we would come away with all three points."

Crawley Town are Weymouth's next opponents in the league. They are due to visit the Wessex Stadium on Friday.

Tindall said: "Some fans have been complaining that our performances have not been getting results but we are now unbeaten in our last three so hopefully they will turn out in their numbers and get behind the lads on Friday.

"For the first time tonight we were able to field the same XI as the previous game and just like Saturday against Northwich Victoria they all did very well.

"The other good thing is that we have come away from the game with no knocks or injuries so we should have another strong squad available for Friday. We could also have a couple of others back from the treatment room."

* Weymouth will take on Portland United tonight in a friendly at Grove Corner (7.30pm) where some of their fringe players will be given much-needed minutes on the pitch.