On the verge!
By Matt Pitman

Monday 21st February 2005

LEE Phillips and Steve Tully are expected to complete free transfers to Exeter City today.

The pair both missed Weymouth's 3-3 draw with Lewes at the Wessex Stadium and spent the weekend negotiating personal terms with the Conference National side.

Terras boss Steve Johnson refused to reveal the exact terms of the deal although a source close to the Grecians told Echosport that no transfer fees are involved.

Johnson said: "We accepted an approach from Exeter for both Steve Tully and Lee Phillips and they spent the weekend negotiating their terms.

"It's likely the deal will be tied up later today which I'm pleased about because I wanted it resolved quickly.

"I decided it would be best if Lee Phillips was not involved in our game against Lewes because of the pending transfer to Exeter.

"In Steve Tully's case, he is likely to be out for the next four to six weeks with a foot injury so his involvement was never an issue."

The Westcountry-based pair are understood to have become unsettled at the Wessex Stadium following the departure of former boss Steve Claridge.

Tully, who signed a new contract late last year, recently slapped in a transfer request and publicly criticised Johnson in the Dorset Echo for signing 'too many' players.

Around 40 per cent of any fee received for Phillips, who last week turned down a move to Aldershot, would need to be passed to his former club, Plymouth Argyle.
Johnson said: 'A this moment in time the details of the deals are not being publicly disclosed."

Without their two-prized assets, Weymouth came from behind three times to earn a point against the high-flying Rooks.

A last-gasp Kirk Jackson penalty ended a run of two successive defeats for the Terras who included new striker Marvin Brown.

Johnson said: "We kept going right until the end and the penalty at the end was fully deserved.

"We were very poor in the first half when we went 2-1 behind and I tore into the players at the interval.

"Our strengths are when we pass the ball to feet, not lump it like we were doing in the first half.

"We improved after the interval and although a point against a fairly decent side like Lewes is a creditable result, I'm disappointed not to have won.

"It was frustrating because their keeper was awful in the first half but like Lev Yashin in the second."

He added: "What we need to do better is defending from the front and making ourselves harder to break down.
"We've conceded three goals for the second successive game and that's not good enough."

Johnson also criticised the three match officials claiming Jon Nurse's opener for Lewes should not have counted.

"I don't like to criticise the officials but again they were very, very poor," he said.

"The referee's assistants should do their job and assist, not just stand there.

"Seven or eight of our lads are convinced their first goal did not cross the line and the assistant has given it even though he is miles away."