WEYMOUTH manager Bobby Wilkinson admitted he has sympathy with opponents Taunton Town amid the Peacocks’ off-the-field issues.

Taunton were last week reportedly handed a winding-up petition by HMRC, while numerous senior players have left the club in recent weeks.

And, at the turn of the year, chairman Kevin Sturmey revealed Taunton had been battling “10 per cent income and 100 per cent expenditure” due to a combination of factors including postponed home games and cashflow.

Weymouth were themselves plunged into financial uncertainty in August 2022, with the Terras currently still negotiating the after-effects with a strict playing budget.

READ MORE: Can Weymouth reach the play-offs this season?

The two clubs meet tonight (7.45pm), weather permitting, and Wilkinson told Echosport of his compassion with Taunton's situation. 

He said: “It brings them together, this is going to be very difficult because their starting XI is very, very good. A mid-table side with that 11 on paper.

“They’ve had time to freshen up, get a few injuries back, so they’re going to be strong. We’ve done a lot of work on them.”

He added: “It’s heartbreaking to hear when clubs go through these situations. I don’t like that sort of thing because I came to a football club where we were 100 per cent similar.

“Luckily enough, we had a couple of people that got everything balanced. We’re still paying for that situation now with our budget. We’ve got a certain limit.

“Anyone in that predicament in non-League football, you don’t wish that on anyone. I truly hope they get out of it, I just hope they don’t get three points (tonight)!

“It’s not a nice place as a club, so we should understand that collectively.”

Aside from the background to this game, Weymouth and Taunton are closely matched in the Vanarama National League South table.

Weymouth leapfrogged Taunton to 19th courtesy of their 3-0 win over Slough, but the Somerset side have three games in hand over the Terras and trail them by only two points.

Quizzed on the standings, Wilkinson said: “For me, it’s just another game. Every game is big.

“It’s a very competitive, demanding league. It’s going to get even more demanding. That comes back to what I said a few months back.

“I don’t know why the league don’t play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday at the start of the season.

“Then, we wouldn’t be fighting to play midweek games in the winter in terrible conditions. That’s our league all over at the moment, isn’t it?”

Weymouth’s home match with St Albans City was on Saturday postponed due to a frozen pitch and Wilkinson admitted he would have preferred to have played.

The Terras are currently on a run of one defeat in six games.

“You’d always want to continue to play, especially with how confident we are after our last six games,” he added.

“It just means sometimes you get back on the training ground, work on some other stuff and prepare for what’s going to be an unbelievably tight schedule for three months.

“It’s the business end of the season. Our boys have had no time off, we’ve gone the extra mile to get us fitter, stronger and more organised.”

Weymouth have only one injury concern with Ben Thomson (hamstring), while Alfie Rutherford’s return to Dorking means ex-Taunton loanee Malachi Linton is in contention to start against his former club.