BRIAN Stock admitted he nearly subbed goalscorer Jake McCarthy before the midfielder’s sweet strike earned a thrilling late point at Dagenham & Redbridge.

McCarthy popped up in the 92nd minute to blast a late shot home, cancelling out Bolton loanee Liam Gordon’s opener in the first half.

Chances saturated the game in an end-to-end contest that is becoming typical of a Vanarama National League likely to escape the menace of relegation places.

Mohammed Sagaf, Scott Wilson and Myles Weston all went close for Dagenham, while Weymouth threatened through Andy Dallas and Josh McQuoid.

READ MORE: McCarthy strikes late as Terras snatch point

In the end, the telling contribution came from McCarthy – but an elated Stock revealed he almost hooked the Weymouth maestro.

He told Echosport: “He was actually one player we were considering bringing off.

“With Jake, the one thing he does possess is quality. He’s good for a goal and fortunately enough we’ve kept him on the pitch and he’s popped up with a fantastic strike.”

He added: “It’s a great feeling, those are the goals that when you’ve got the fans in it gets better, but what a great relief.

“The players deserved it. When you look at how hard they grafted, I made sure the players were aware of the standard we need to get to.

“A lot of the information had to be taken on board online over Zoom calls and for us to go to Dagenham and get a point is a fantastic result for us.”

After a below-par first half, which the Daggers dominated, Stock was pleased to see a positive response.

“The biggest thing was the reaction from half-time,” he said.

“Although we’ve gone down 1-0 from a really good piece of individual skill from their player, I still feel that’s something we can be better at – trying to stop it or bringing him down, being a bit more compact.

“When I asked for a reaction, they definitely delivered that. The bravery on the ball was excellent.

“Everything I wanted them to achieve first half in trying to play out, wasn’t quite there.

“They showed full commitment, an attitude and mentality to never say die and get their just reward right at the end.”

READ MORE: Dagenham 1 Terras 1 - how it happened

Stock’s appetite for improvements remains undiminished, despite the Terras claiming their 10th point on the road this season.

“I still want more from the team,” he demanded. “Yes, we’ve put in a good performance.

“I still think we can get to a stage where we can be beating these teams. That’s the belief I have in this team.

“A really good bunch of lads, honest and when they get given information they take it on board.

“Not necessarily are the performances always there but I’d never question their attitude.”