BRANDON Goodship has left Weymouth for Southend after two stellar years in which he scored 75 league goals for the Terras.

The move, which is not linked to the friendly between the two sides in July, sees Goodship join the team that finished 19th in Sky Bet League One last year.

Goodship's goals helped Weymouth to promotion to the National League South in his second season with the club, and scored the second goal in the 3-0 league win over Farnborough which sealed promotion.

He also scored the final penalty in the 5-3 victory in the shoot out that sealed the victory over Kettering, handing Weymouth the Evo-Stik Southern Premier League title.

Director of football Paul Maitland paid tribute to Goodship for giving the Weymouth fans two memorable seasons, but conceded he is "gutted for us."

Maitland told Echosport: "He has given the fans of Weymouth two very memorable seasons.

"He has got the club back to where it has aspired to be for a long time, so there is much to be thankful to him for as well as a sense of disappointment that he is no longer carrying on the journey with us but we certainly wish him the best of luck for it.

"We hope that he will go on and achieve great things at Southend for himself."

The former Bournemouth youngster initially joined the Terras almost exactly two years ago, and soon hit the ground running, firing in 38 league goals in his debut season at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Maitland admitted they were "lucky" to get him from Yeovil but says the move validates their work.

Maitland said: "I am gutted for us but I am really pleased for him because it validates our work. As much as we want to be successful for Weymouth, when we took Brandon from Yeovil we were lucky to get him from Yeovil and we promised him that we would work as hard as we could with him to get him back to full-time football and we have done that."