WEYMOUTH boss John Hollins dedicated Saturday's 3-1 win over Grays Athletic at the Wessex Stadium to his number two Alan Lewer, who missed the game following a stomach operation.

The Terras went behind to an early goal by Mark Molesley but they then hit back with efforts from skipper Anton Robinson, Stephen Reed and Chris McPhee to get their Blue Square Premier campaign off to the perfect start.

Speaking after the match, Hollins said: "Alan had an operation today so he was not here. Marcus Browning has also injured his back so that meant I was on my own.

"I would like to dedicate this win to Alan and the way he has performed. He is very knowledgeable and keeps me filled in on everything. I actually rang him straight after the final whistle to tell him that we had won but he responded by saying I already know'.

"I thought we started the game quite well and got at them but we then went behind. To be honest I do not know how the ball got to where it got to and in many ways it was very similar to the goal we conceded against Yeovil but now we can forget about that because immediately afterwards we got back in it and showed great character.

"I love it when the pitch is wet because the ball zips along and it allows you to play a fast passing game and in the end we scored three well-taken goals.

"Grays are not an easy side to turn over by any means and I am extremely pleased with the way we played.

"We may have left ourselves a bit open at times by going forward with attack after attack and to be fair they did take us to task a couple of times but defensively we were sound.

"Their keeper was busier than ours which was a good sign but we were a bit cavalier on occasions. You have to be wary when you keep pushing forward, however, at home you do have to go for it and today we came out on top, which was very pleasing."

Hollins hailed his entire side for their efforts but he also praised individuals, including goalkeeper Richard Bernard who stood in for Danny Knowles.

He added: "Richard Bernard did very well in goal. He is a mature man and along with the back four we looked solid. We defended ten yards further up the pitch than we have been and it worked well.

"Michael Malcolm also did well on the left. At Aldershot Town last season he gave Rob Gier a difficult time and he did the same to the same player today.

"Anton Robinson and Stephen Reed were also on top form. Even though both of them are still young they also have a lot of experience and the way they played and took their goals was very pleasing."

When asked if Bernard is close to landing a permanent deal at the Wessex Stadium, Hollins said: "He is with us but it is like a lot of things so watch this space."

Weymouth must now prepare for two tough away trips to Oxford United tomorrow night and Stevenage Borough on Saturday.

Hollins said: "We always go to places with confidence but it is all about performing. We will go into both games looking for the three points but Oxford lost to Barrow and Stevenage were hammered by Wrexham so they will both be wanting to take it out on somebody. We have just got make sure it is not us."