New era dawns for Terras
By David Swain

Friday 15th July 2005

FOOTBALL returns to the Wessex Stadium tomorrow with Terras fans preparing to herald the dawning of another new era.

Boss Garry Hill knows his side have already been installed as favourites to win the Conference South title after a busy close season of transfer activity.

And he's hoping the fans will roll up in big numbers when the visit of Conference National side Forest Green Rovers brings a chance tomorrow to assess the likely impact of his legion of newcomers as they go into friendly action for the first time on home soil.

"I know the expectation levels are high at Weymouth this season - and rightly so," said Hill today.

"We had a tremendous finish at the end of last season, taking 18 out of 24 points and just missing out on the play-offs and people will be expecting us to carry on from there.

"I don't have a problem with that and, because I believe the squad we have now is far stronger than the one we inherited, I share their optimism.

"But these are very early days and they shouldn't expect to see the finished article tomorrow.

"We've had an excellent few days in Ireland with two good competitive games that helped a lot towards our goal of getting everyone fit and sharp by the time August 13 comes around.

Tomorrow's game is another step along that path."

Hill was pleased to come through the games against Drogheda and Shamrock Rovers - which ended in a 4-0 defeat and a 1-0 victory respectively - without any injuries and the only player missing tomorrow will be defender Dave Waterman whose son is seriously ill.

"He has family reasons we all know about and he will link up with us later," said the manager. Everyone else will be involved tomorrow and with another attractive friendly against Southampton coming up on Tuesday night it's likely they will all see some of the action.

Forest Green, who only just escaped relegation from the Conference last season, yesterday signed former Cambridge United and Oxford United captain Paul Wanless.

Their line-up tomorrow could also include Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Ryan Clarke who considering a move to The Lawn after training with them this week.