WEYMOUTH will use the dramatic floodlight failures at Hampton & Richmond earlier in the season as extra motivation to beat the Beavers this evening (7.45pm).

Manager Bobby Wilkinson and his players were twice forced off the field at the Beveree Stadium, leading to a combined delay of almost 45 minutes.

Weymouth felt the match should have been postponed on that occasion, with the match finishing at 10.23pm.

The drama was the latest to unfold between the two sides following the late postponement, due to a frozen pitch, of their match at Weymouth in January 2023.

READ MORE: Weymouth rearrange three National League South games

Hampton & Richmond were angered by the late call, given they had already arrived at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

But Wilkinson made the point that his players had also travelled from afar and revealed he would use the two controversies to further stimulate his side in the latest encounter.

Ahead of hosting the league’s eighth-placed club, he told Echosport: “It will be reminded to my players and let’s have a go at them. I haven’t forgotten about that.

“The lights turned off in one second and made us walk off in the dark.

“They came down here and we called the game off because of the frozen pitch. Everyone forgets that most of my lads had travelled down that night.

“That game was playable at six o’clock because it was frosty and at 6.30 it started getting icy, then it got called off at seven.”

In the return fixture, Calvin Brooks’ handball gave Hampton a late penalty, converted by ex-Yeovil and Dorchester striker Ben Seymour.

Wilkinson added: “We played excellent against Hampton & Richmond at their place and it had 0-0 written all over it, then we gave them a goal in the 90th minute, lost 1-0.

“Once again, against one of the top boys, we gave a sloppy goal away. If we stop that, we beat these top boys.

“I will eventually turn that around, that’s my next job. We’ll do it in stages and we will start beating some of these big boys.”

And Wilkinson is looking for a big improvement on Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Worthing, when Weymouth were defeated by 10 men.

“If we’re going to be brutally honest, I would’ve taken a point and a point,” he admitted. “My target was could we get two draws or win one out of the two?

“We’ve got a chance to but you don’t win if you don’t stop individual mistakes. We’ve been doing that all season, that’s why we’re a little frustrated to certain points.

“It was a bad day at the office. They have not really, truly, earnt a goal. Even 2-0 down I thought we were going to win 3-2 because we had so much possession.

“Nobody’s going to see that, all the negative people will see we got battered 4-1.”

Charlie Rowan (suspended) and Calvin Brooks (knee) miss out.