Slocombe mystery
By Derek Bish

Tuesday 13th July 2010

DOUBT has been cast over Martin Slocombe’s return to Weymouth after boss Ian Hutchinson revealed he has had no contact from the elusive defender.

The 21-year-old, who originally left the club in March, was present for the Terras’ first pre-season training session a fortnight ago but Hutchinson has failed to touch base with the left-back since that night – much to his disappointment.

Slocombe was quoted in Echosport on June 30 as saying: “I really want to work under Hutch and Mase (Andy Mason) again.”

However, should the former Bath City man’s silence continue for the rest of this week, Weymouth’s manager will look elsewhere in his bid to build a competitive squad.

He said: “It’s a bizarre situation. He came down for training a couple of weeks ago, we had a great chat with him and he was 99 per cent sure he was coming back.

“He then put a nice piece in the Echo which was very positive but since then we have heard nothing from him.

“We can’t get hold of him despite leaving numerous messages. From what I understand it might be the travelling that he’s unsure about.

“But the sad thing is that he hasn’t got back to me about it. I need to know one way or the other, so we’re still in the dark.

“I’m hoping we will receive some contact from him soon but if we haven’t by the weekend then we will have to move on.”

Tonight’s training session takes place at Weymouth Amateur Boxing Club’s Hardwick Street gym as Afsheen Panjalizadeh puts the Terras through their paces.

Hutchinson added: “It’ll be a change of scenery and something a bit different that gets you off the training field.

“Afsheen will work the boys hard and work on their core stability, which is a big part of the fitness regime we are building here.

“We want the players to be as fit as they can to give us the best chance possible. The lads have been working extremely hard so far and they will reap the benefits, both physically and mentally.”