The John Barton column

IT wasn't pretty but the win against Weymouth has given us a much-needed boost to drive on for runners-up spot.

Victory owed more to determination than any great skill and this was typified by Carl Heeley's solid display in midfield.

It's not a long-term solution to play him in that position but along with David Foy he did exactly what we wanted by closing down and unsettling the opposition.

It's a ploy we used a couple of years ago against Crawley but it won't be one we will be using too often because the impact would diminish.

From my own experiences I remember once being played as a centre half and it went relatively well. The next game it was OK and then died off after that so it's unlikely we will be seeing Carl playing too many times in midfield.

However it's testimony to his value as a player in that he did the job he was asked and carried out our instructions. Players that do that are worth their weight in any squad.

It's fair to say it wasn't a convincing win against Weymouth but at this stage of the season it was three points that mattered. We know we haven't been in our best form with injuries hampering us but I'm not going to lose any sleep over the fact it wasn't a vintage performance.

I'm sure if I was Terras' manager Geoff Butler I would have been reflecting on the way home that we could have taken something from the game but equally I didn't see any dispute about the penalties.

Stewart Hadley was clearly fouled and to be fair to him he didn't make a great deal out of it while Adam Wilde's cross was undoubtedly handball.

I can emphasis with Butler because we've let games slip through our fingers or not emerged with something when we've deserved it, such as at Havant, but we're learning all the time.

We still need to tighten up defensively and do more in terms of scoring goals, there is no denying that, but generally the players have done well - how well we will see at the end of the season!

At the start of the season we'd assembled a squad to improve on last year and to a large degree it has still to be assessed due to the intervention of injuries.

We lost David Foy after just eight games, we didn't have Stewart Hadley, we lost Mark Owen - we could go on and on and make cases everywhere but the fact is it undermines your efforts.

Ultimately though you have to get on with the task in hand, and for us that's claiming second spot, but I hope some people are a little more sensitive in their criticism and bear in mind what we have had to put up with.

Saturday takes us to Cambridge and it will be Adam Wilde's first game back at the club since he joined us.

It's been an indifferent spell for him of late and he's disappointed by that but there's no better place to get your level of performance back than against your old club and I'm sure he will be fired up to do just that.

Efforts to strengthen the squad before Monday's transfer deadline came to nothing but we are busy identifying possible targets for the summer.

As I have stressed before I don't think we will be making the savage changes we have in previous seasons but if a player becomes available that can improve the team, and it is a straight one on one swap for an existing player, then it has to be done.

JOHN BARTON was talking to reporter NAT SYLVESTER.