BRIAN Stock insisted he felt no animosity towards Tom Whelan after the former Weymouth midfielder sunk the Terras to give his new club Chesterfield a 1-0 win.

Whelan’s 38th-minute volley was the difference between the sides, who each hit the woodwork.

Akwasi Asante had an effort tipped onto the post by Terras’ keeper Ethan Ross in the fifth minute, before Weymouth sub Pierre Fonkeu’s header thumped the bar in the second half.

Late Terras pressure could not break an organised Chesterfield down, with the hosts claiming their 13th clean sheet since boss James Rowe joined in November.

It meant all the headlines belonged to Whelan after Weymouth sold him to the Spireites before Christmas.

Asked if Whelan being the match winner was particularly frustrating, Terras’ manager Stock told Echosport: “No, not at all.

“It’s more frustration on my part because we didn’t mark him. As the cross comes in, we allow him to run off and he squirms in the shot.

“I’ve got no frustrations about Tom scoring, it’s the fact that we allowed it to go in in the first place.”

He added: “It’s probably the weakest attempt they had that they scored from.

“It’s frustrating because set-pieces we’re normally good at. We mark very well on them, but we’ve turned our back on Tom, allowed him a few yards space and he’s managed to get his shot off.

“It’s the difference between the two sides.”

Weymouth were subdued in the first half – a factor Stock bemoaned.

“I felt we were very slow out of the blocks,” he said.

“Chesterfield press very well, they had a lot of energy and we played into their hands to start with.

“At least for the first 30 minutes we were well off the standards we’ve set.

“I felt as the game went on we got to grips with one or two things. We allowed them too much space and freedom at times.

“We defended too deep and never really asked questions – compared to what we have done recently – of Chesterfield’s defence.”

But Stock praised his side for an improved second half display, following a first half light on chances.

He said: “I think we put the ball in the box quite a few times, we had a few crosses and free-kicks.

“We didn’t necessarily register any shots on target but when you look at Chesterfield second half, Ethan (Ross, goalkeeper) hardly had touch of the ball and didn’t have to make a save.

“You could say the same for both sides – it was almost like a game of two halves.

“We were almost like a different side. We made two changes and flipped formation slightly.

“We just had a go, came out second half and were like a different team. We asked a lot of questions of Chesterfield.”