SAM Poole is determined to reward all those that have put faith in him by helping Weymouth push on next season.

The talented teenager made 46 appearances for the Terras in his first-ever season at Southern Premier Division level last term and is extremely grateful to boss Brendon King for having given him the opportunity.

Poole, who picked up the manager’s player of the season and players’ player of the season awards at the Terras’ presentation night, told Echosport: “If someone had said to me at the start of the season that I would make that amount of appearances I would have been really surprised but it shows that if you work hard and take your chance here, the rewards are there.

“I owe a huge thank you to Brendon King as well for giving me the opportunity at this level.

“He took a chance with me and hopefully I have gone some way to paying him back with my performances.

“He really does have a knack of finding players in a lower league and getting them to produce at a higher level.

“With some other managers, a few of us might not have even got a shot, and now he has been given another year hopefully we can repay him even further by kicking on next season.

“The fact players like Craig Duff and I have pretty much a full season behind us now at this level should help us improve next year and if we can bring in a bit more experience right through the spine then the future will be bright.”

The Terras finished 17th last season, just four points above the drop-zone, but Poole believes his men showed more than enough promise to kick on into the top-half in 2012/13.

He added: “The fans would like to see us pushing for the play-offs and there is no reason why we cannot do that.

“The form we have shown against the top sides over the last year proves we can compete, it is just a case of finding that knack to beat those lower in the table.

“Had we done that last season we would have got an extra 10 to 12 points, which would have pushed us comfortably into mid-table, so if we can put together a stronger squad and have more competition for places we should be able to push on.”

Poole has also been encouraged by the new-found stability off the pitch. He went on to say: “The more we get the community involved the better.

“Since Nigel Biddlecombe and the new board have taken over there has definitely been a different buzz.

“We can all trust Nigel and his team, who put an awful lot of hours in, and as a team we need to try and reward that with good performances on the pitch.

“We also know that if we do that more fans will come flooding back in.

“Being a local lad, I know how much the club means to a lot of people and after a few tough years, hopefully next season we can reward them too with a bit more positivity.”