WEYMOUTH boss Brian Stock admitted the Terras were on the backfoot after one of their “worst starts” of the season contributed to a 3-2 loss at Halifax Town.

The Shaymen completed the double over Weymouth, following up on their 5-1 thrashing in December.

Dom Revan conceded a penalty within 30 seconds and, although Jake Hyde’s penalty was saved by Ethan Ross, no Weymouth defender could prevent Hyde tucking home the rebound.

Jake McCarthy levelled with a close-range header but parity was restored for just eight minutes as Tom Bradbury touched home two yards out.

Halifax again scored two minutes into a half when Jeff King beat Ross from just inside the box and debutant sub Micah Obiero hit the bar late on.

As Weymouth chased the game, sub Josh Leslie-Smith cleared off the line before a peachy 25-yard volley from McCarthy gave the Terras hope before they succumbed.

READ MORE: Halifax 3-2 Weymouth - match report

READ MORE: Jake McCarthy double in vain - how it happened

On the timing of the first and third goals, Stock told Echosport: “The first goal, Ethan’s made the save and I’m disappointed we haven’t had the reaction to follow in.

“They might not have had the connection to clear but at least we would’ve been in contact to try and put them off.

“One of the messages was to start well and that’s probably been one of our worst starts in terms of going down 1-0 so early.

“I felt at half-time it was a real opportunity to galvanise the group and address one or two things.

“There were a lot of positives in the first half and we created one or two chances.

“From box-to-box I felt we had the better of Halifax but they defended better than us and obviously capitalised scoring three.”

Halifax looked the more fluent side despite the Terras enjoying sustained spells of possession.

But Stock was left to rue the circumstances of all three goals.

“We’ve gifted them three unbelievably soft goals,” he said. “We’ve started and within a minute we’ve conceded a penalty.

“We’ve conceded off a corner and then they’ve danced through our players.

“Two goals to concede within the first two minutes of restarts is really, really poor and something we need to concentrate on.

“We had to make a fast start and we got caught. It gives you a mountain to climb.

“When you take into consideration the game itself, possession-wise I thought we dictated the game and created a lot of chances for a team coming away to Halifax.

“We had the ascendancy in the second half and I really do feel we applied a lot pressure.

“It opened us up on the counter by conceding soft goals. Halifax will feel they might’ve scored one or two more but sometimes that is the case when you try and chase a game.”

Weymouth return to action against Torquay United at Plainmoor on Saturday (3pm).