MARK Molesley hailed Weymouth’s “strong underbelly” after watching the Terras keep a third consecutive clean sheet in pre-season with the 0-0 draw at Wimborne.

The stalemate at the Wyatt Homes Stadium followed shut-outs at Hamworthy Recreation and Sholing.

Weymouth kept Wimborne to limited openings, with the Magpies’ best chance falling to ex-Terras midfielder Dan Neild who was denied by goalkeeper Gerard Benfield.

When asked about the Terras’ third summer clean sheet, Molesley told Echosport: “You’ve got to have a strong underbelly and be able to defend.

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“We defend as a team and unit. If you get a clean sheet you talk about your goalkeeper and defenders but we certainly talk about the group as a whole.

“There’s forward players working hard for us, shuffling about and trying to get into a strong shape when we haven’t got the ball.

“We’re trying to win it back at an early opportunity or, if not, we’re trying to get a strong shape together.

“We’re getting there but Rome’s not built in a day.”

While Molesley was satisfied defensively, he felt his attackers could have been more sharp.

He said: “There’s loads of positivity. Everyone was probably a bit frustrated, I thought the performance was good.

“Their keeper’s made some good saves and there were some quite glaring misses from us actually, but we’ll give them the excuse of the pitch.

“I’ll let them get away with that only once because there’s no excuses in football. It really slowed up.

“It was a good test for us. We saw people in a few different combinations, saw some youngsters.

“Pre-season’s a chaotic time but chaos is good for us at the moment because you’ve got to learn quick. We’re certainly finding out more about ourselves.”

Weymouth host National League side Eastleigh on Tuesday (7pm)