STRIKER Ben Thomson has made a sensational return to Weymouth from Salisbury.

Thomson was last week released from his contract with Salisbury, managed by ex-Terras star Brian Dutton.

And Weymouth have swooped to bring back the frontman to the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Speaking to Echosport, acting CEO Paul Maitland insisted bringing Thomson back was not a vanity project for the Terras.

He said: "Having spoken to Ben after he left in the summer, and over the last couple of days, he never wanted to leave.

"He felt he had unfinished business at the club. Having missed quite a lot of last season through injury, he wanted the chance to help the club this season.

"Unfortunately because of circumstances at the time, he left. He obviously joined Salisbury with a lot of former Weymouth players.

"He's done quite well there but not featured a huge amount since the change of manager, which was what started to alert us that he wasn't going to be first choice.

"I had a conversation with Brian and asked him what the situation was.

"He confirmed that they would be happy to release Ben if he wanted to rejoin Weymouth, and gave us permission to speak with Ben.

"We want to be very clear, this is not a PR stunt or winning fans over because of what he means to them.

"We believe he still has a huge amount to offer, particularly in the situation we're in.

"He's a real grafter, a real worker. He puts himself about. He's a centre-half's nightmare. 

"He'll allow us to get up the pitch a bit more, stay up the pitch and stop the ball from coming back quite so quickly.

"That's not a criticism of players we have, but he's very different to anything else we've got. 

"The traditional target man is one that's dying out but we felt it's one we felt we badly needed.

"He does contribute with a lot of assists and secondary assists. He will galvanise the place, there's no doubt about that.

"The majority of fans will be over the moon to see him back.”

Thomson scored just one league goal for Salisbury - the winner in a 1-0 victory against Beaconsfield on the opening day of the season.