MANAGER David Oldfield called for a “resilient” Weymouth performance at red-hot Vanarama National League leaders Stockport County tomorrow (3pm).
Stockport have won 13 of their past 14 games in all competitions, opening up a six-point advantage over second-placed Chesterfield.
Weymouth themselves are unbeaten in three league games as they seek to bridge an eight-point gap to safety.
And, while, Oldfield would not be drawn on the Terras’ chances of emulating a shock 2-1 win at Edgeley Park last season, he stressed the need to “relish” the task against Stockport.
READ MORE: Weymouth 2-2 Bromley - match report
He told Echosport: “I don’t think there’s any other way of dressing it up, it’s going to be a very difficult game against a strong side.
“It’s a big challenge – I do find myself repeating the same things before games. It’s no more true than this weekend’s fixture.
“It’s one we’ll try our best to relish and look forward to and we’ll need to be as ready as possible and as resilient as we possibly can.
“We are striving so hard to give ourselves a chance of getting what we need to get out of the season.”
He added: “I’ve said on previous occasions I’ve felt we’ve moved forward. It is still relevant in our minds that we didn’t do well enough at King’s Lynn, for example. They have responded since then.
“It’s about trying to show progression as a club and in recent games the boys have certainly done that.
“If we can continue our work and collective efforts, then we’ll give ourselves a chance but we’re under no illusions as to how difficult the game is.
“We need to prepare properly. I feel we need to get the journey right, our training and give ourselves the biggest chances.”
Oldfield also highlighted his respect for Stockport, who have flown to the top of the league under new boss Dave Challinor.
He said: “Stockport are a fantastic club, a club I’ve played against in the Football League in the past.
“I know they have big ambitions and the manager’s doing very well. They’ve had a very good run recently.
“But we have to focus and concentrate on ourselves and get into the best position.”
Asked whether there would be any squad movement this weekend, Oldfield replied: “We’ll go there with as competitive a group as we can. It’ll be a similar group (as faced Bromley).”
Andy Robinson (foot), Josh Leslie-Smith (concussion), Martell Taylor-Crossdale (knee) and Harrison Bruton (finger) remain out, while Ben Thomson (groin) continues to train and take part in warm-ups.
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