WEYMOUTH boss Bobby Wilkinson said this pre-season has been “special” following a 2-1 loss in their final pre-season match against a Reading XI on Saturday.

The Terras took the lead in the second half through a cool finish from Nahun Melvin-Lambert, but the youthful League One outfit capitalised on some defensive errors to win 2-1.

Despite the result, Wilkinson reflected on the pre-season as a whole and is proud of the efforts of everyone within the club.

The Terras boss was “really pleased” with Melvin-Lambert’s performance, saying to Echosport that he wanted to “bring someone in that’s a bit different and physical".

Speaking about the opposition, Wilkinson couldn’t “thank Reading enough for travelling all the way down here for a friendly".

Before the game, it had been announced that Josh McQuoid had re-signed with the Terras for the start of the campaign, with the ex-Terras captain replacing Tom Bearwish in the starting lineup through injury and completing the full 90 minutes.

Wilkinson stressed the importance of McQuoid’s experience both to the team and fans saying: “McQuoid is a hero here, a fans' favourite and he signed here because he wants to play football.”

Next Saturday Weymouth kick off their season against St Albans City, the Terras boss was positive about what he described as a “difficult week” saying: “Two teams that were in the play-offs, two teams that are the favourites to be up there but let’s look forward to this challenge.”