WEYMOUTH manager Bobby Wilkinson insists the Terras “battered” St Albans City in the second half of their 3-3 draw at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Weymouth took the lead when Brandon Goodship blasted home Teddy Howe’s cross, but St Albans’ top-scorer Shaun Jeffers retaliated with a quickfire double before half-time.

Terras’ debutant Naz Bakrin looked to have rescued a point for Weymouth, who then went one better when Charlie Rowan hooked in to send the home crowd wild.

But Zane Banton capitalised on slack marking in the 95th minute to give St Albans a deserved share of the points.

Speaking to Echosport, Wilkinson said: “It’s two points dropped, we’ve absolutely battered them second half.

READ MORE: Weymouth 3-3 St Albans City - report

“I hope their manager gives us a bit of respect. We’ve stopped them playing, we’ve nullified them, I’ve let them have more of the ball in the first half because I wanted to stay compact.

“Guess what? It’s worked. Should we have won the game? Yeah. Are we disappointed we didn’t? I can’t look at the negatives.

“Let’s just stay positive, we’ve just got a point off one of the big boys. We haven’t done that for the last four games.”

Wilkinson insisted he maintained belief in his squad even after Jeffers’ double appeared to disrupt their early good work.

“I turned up and I knew we weren’t losing, because I’ve seen the way we trained and I’ve seen the mindset,” he said.

“They were disappointed the last three weeks. I felt like it’s got negative the last few weeks. Why? We’ve won four games then lost three.

“That doesn’t change anything. We’re still on course for where we want to get to and we’ve just taken a fantastic point.

“We’re going through an unbelievable run with all the top boys and we just took a point off them. I’m pleased because we haven’t done that all season.

“So, we’re going to stay positive and keep moving forward.”

He added: “They didn’t have a sniff in the second half, we’ve nullified the space, made it hard for them to play.

“They’re one of the best footballing sides I’ve seen this season and we didn’t let them play at all.

“If we talk about squads and finance, we’re in two different leagues. To pick up a point against them is fantastic.”

Rowan returned from a two-game suspension and looked on course to have scored the winner until Banton’s late intervention.

Wilkinson said: “I didn’t have Charlie the last two games. Now I had him back, look at the difference. We defended a hell of a lot better.

“I still think we were sloppy for some of the goals but we can work on that.

“One thing you did see second half was the guts and determination that we’re trying to build. We have to do that.

“To have Charlie back was a massive positive. I’ve changed the shape (to 3-5-2) which was a massive gamble.

“I’ve thrown in Naz, which was a massive gamble. As a manager, that could’ve really backfired.”

On Charlton loanee Bakrin, Wilkinson was delighted his big call paid off.

“That was really good,” he admitted. “That’s good experience for him, so he can only get better now.

“I knew that was a big gamble. I would’ve taken a point before the game but we’re disappointed because it should’ve been three.”

Bakrin could be in contention to start against Torquay on Saturday if Wilkinson keeps the Terras’ new shape.

He said: “I’ll wait and see, I’ll analyse it. We went three at the back. You don’t change shape overnight, especially when I’ve played a four all season.

“I won’t say he’ll be playing and I won’t say we’ll be playing a three. Just because we got a great point, it doesn’t mean we’re going to keep it the same.”

Torquay United await Weymouth at the Bob Lucas Stadium on Saturday (3pm).