Hutch hopes to offer terms
By Adam Summers

WEYMOUTH manager Ian Hutchinson is hoping to be in a position later this week to offer non-contract terms to some of his young starlets.

The Terras’ boss will hold further talks with chairman George Rolls in the coming days after several youngsters impressed in Saturday’s friendly against Crawley Town.

The Terras went down 2-0 to the Blue Square Bet Premier outfit, courtesy of a second-half brace from Craig McAllister.

Keeper Tom Manley made several fine stops while the central defensive pairing of Sam Clarke and Ben Gerring managed to shackle McAllister and his strike partner Matt Tubbs, a £70,000 summer capture from Salisbury City, for an hour before the ex-Exeter City man broke the deadlock with a fine looping header.

McAllister then added a second from the spot after Gerring tripped ex-Terra Ben Smith in the box on 78 minutes but although Crawley’s extra class eventually edged out the home side’s endeavour, Hutchinson still thought the performance was a step in the right direction.

He said: “The shape of the side was exactly what we were after and I thought we defended very well.

“Sam and Ben were up against two quality players and they did not look out of depth, and that is what we are looking for.

“We want these young players to go out and express themselves and even with 10 minutes to go we were still getting on the ball and playing in the right manner, which was really pleasing.

“I was also impressed with Tom Manley who made some great saves and is working really hard.”

Hutchinson went on to add: “I am hoping to sit down with the chairman this week as it is now getting close to the time when we really need to start offering players non-contract terms.

“Ugo Udoji played at right-back against Torquay United last Satur-day and we really liked what we saw. By Monday morning he was training with Torquay and that is one of the things we are up against but we just have to get on with it.”

Crawley fielded a completely different starting XI to the one that thrashed Dorchester Town 6-0 at the Avenue Stadium the previous night but they still had plenty of quality players in their side, which was further evidence of the massive investment the club’s board has made over the past couple of months.

As for the Terras, they fielded one new face in Poole Town midfielder Micky Hubbard and they could have taken the lead had Nick Jordan not pulled off a great save to divert Alex Halloran’s 14-yard volley off target.

When Crawley did break through Weymouth’s rearguard in the first half they found Manley in inspired form.

First he blocked an effort from another former Terra, Michael Malcolm, with his legs before bravely diving at the feet of Tubbs following a fine through pass by Smith.

Manley also made good saves to deny Smith and Loick Pires, who also hit a post, while Weymouth went close with efforts from substitutes Sam Charles and Ben Reiffer, as they kept pressing their opponents right up to the final whistle.

A gate of 455 took advantage of the free entry to the game and Hutchinson is hoping to see more fans returning to the terraces in the future.

He said: “I am sure people in the town will continue to get behind the team. At one point we had six or seven local lads on the pitch and they did not let us down.”