End away-day torment
By Derek Bish

Saturday 6th February 2010

WEYMOUTH captain Scott Brice does not want to be liked on the football field and has demanded his team all start showing a mean streak in a bid to turn around their away-day fortunes.

If the Terras fail to defeat Staines Town this afternoon (3pm) then they by the end of next week they would have won just once on their travels in a whole year – at Bishop’s Stortford on November 14.

And Brice, who could have two new team-mates if Terras’ boss Jerry Gill can push through transfers in time, wants his team-mates to remember the way they played that day.

“That game we got in their faces whereas lately we’ve been standing and not getting close enough to teams,” said the 23-year-old defender. “When we went to Stortford and got that away win it was pretty much the same team but we showed a little bit more character because we closed everything down.

“We have been giving too much respect to teams and we need to be a bit more horrible and become a horrible team.”

Opponents Staines have lost just three home games all season, each by a single goal, and even held League One side Millwall to a 1-1 draw at Wheatsheaf Park in the second round of the FA Cup.

However, cup hero and top scorer Ali Chaaban – famously nicknamed Ali C because of the connections of Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Ali G to the Middlesex town – has been sidelined by a knee injury.

But Weymouth boss Gill is still expecting a tough physical examination of his charges, who he expects to bounce back after Tuesday’s 4-0 loss at Eastleigh.

“I want full commitment and I want them coming out and winning their individual battles but I also want them to play, express themselves and enjoy football,” said Gill.

Although he would not reveal the identity of his transfer targets, the Weymouth boss said he was keen to get Conference level players into his Blue Square South team.

“I’ve been working hard this week trying to bring players to the club and we are hoping to have a couple in today,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process and there will hopefully be new additions again next week.

“People think it is easy to go and sign players but it’s not – there are all sorts of hurdles you have to get over and they have to buy into the way I want to go.”

Jordan Rose will continue to miss out through suspension but Chris Allen has recovered from flu.

Terras (from): Harrison, Byfield, McGuinness, Brice, Bennett, Frampton, Slocombe, Groves, Harris, Reed, Farrell, Allen, Radcliffe, Reid, Llewellyn, Joseph-Dubois, Benbow.