WEYMOUTH manager Bobby Wilkinson expressed his pride at watching the Terras defeat Welling United 2-1 away in a dramatic Vanarama National League South contest at Park View Road.

Weymouth went behind early on against the run of play when Stefan Payne’s deflected strike deceived goalkeeper Zaki Oualah.

Eastleigh loanee Brendan Willson headed his second goal in three games to pull the Terras level and the visitors duly dominated either side of half-time.

Their reward came when Ahkeem Rose finished off a flowing counter-attack in the 67th minute.

Welling keeper Myles Roberts was then sent off for bringing down Brad Ash when clean through to compound the hosts’ misery.

READ MORE: Welling United 1-2 Weymouth - match report

The result was made even more impressive due to a sickness bug that struck down Dan Matsuzaka, Tyler Forbes, Josh Oyinsan and Sami Bessadi, while Nathan Carlyle was ill all week and could not train before the game.

Sickness added to Weymouth’s injury problems, with midfielders Scott Rees and Tom Bearwish filling in at full-back in the absence of Teddy Howe and Harry Kyprianou.

All things considered, Wilkinson paid huge credit to his players and staff given the adverse circumstances, which meant he could only name a three-man bench including coach Jason Matthews.

He told Echosport: “We’ve been up against it all week with illness and injuries. I’m just so proud of my boys, it’s all about my players. It’s all about my management team.

“For what’s been thrown at us this week and then losing a centre-half (Matsuzaka) in the morning who was really ill, to play a centre midfielder right-back and left-back just showed the character I’m trying to build here about being winners.

“Can we achieve and go and win somewhere no-one thought we could? Weymouth knew we could and my boys gave me an outstanding performance.

“All 13 players and my team deserve all the credit. You’re starting to see what we’re trying to build, something really special.

“We’re nowhere near where we want it but you’ve got to have a little bit of fight and determination when you are where you are.

“It’s still 11 against 11. Believe in the squad, believe in what you’re doing. We’ve got players out on loan so when you call them back they’re ready to go.

“We’re trying to make sure we’re ready for the season - not week in, week out.”

Wilkinson also lauded Weymouth for their powerful second-half display.

He said: “We missed quite a few chances, you could see we could’ve scored three or four in the first half and then we’ve soaked up a bit of pressure.

“I reckon that was the best second-half performance since I’ve been at the club.

“Let’s not beat around the bush, the (winning) goal is from their corner. The way Scott has put it down the channel to Brad, he’s cut inside and there’s Rosey in the middle to slot in.

“Just an unbelievable goal. Like last week, a brilliant team goal but this week we held on.”

And Wilkinson spoke of the “blatant” red card for Roberts.

“Brad’s through, he brought Brad down,” he said.

“Brad’s actually passed the ball past him, it’s a blatant red card. They put in a couple of tackles but we manned up to it.

“Whatever they gave us, we threw back at them twice as hard. They couldn’t move us.”

Weymouth, who remain 24th, are next in action on Saturday at home to Cheshunt in a bottom-of-the-table clash (12.30pm).