Experience the missing ingredient as Bartley plots Marlow revival after four-goal defeats

Credit: TME Sports Photography

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Marlow boss Mark Bartley knows the Blues can’t shy away from their recent results, which he admits have been far from good enough.

However, he saw enough from his understrength Blues side in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Ware to suggest they can dig themselves out of trouble at the wrong end of the Southern League Central Division table and start climbing the table.

Bartley has identified a lack of experience in midfield as one of the reasons for their recent poor run of form, and he’s taken steps to address that in the past week or so. Last week’s 4-0 loss at Thame United - a side that have struggled for form alongside Marlow this season - was the final straw for certain players.

That game ‘drew a line through a lot of people’ for Bartley, and the players he’s signed to replace them - along with other more experienced players returning from injury - should be in line to start at home to Biggleswade Town at Oak Tree Road on Saturday.

“We can’t shy away from the fact that we’ve had three bad results in a row,” said Bartley.

“We can’t get away from that. After the second game at Thame, I made the decision that I needed to make some changes to the squad. But it takes some time.

“There are a couple of players signed who couldn’t play on Saturday but will be available for the coming weekend.

“We also had six or seven players injured of which we’re expecting a handful to be available for this weekend.

“What we saw on Saturday was typical of where we’ve been. We were good. We probably shaded the first half, but we made an all-too-common mistake and found ourselves behind at the break.

“In the second half, we started well but then conceded two or three goals in quick succession. We made some crazy decisions. Instead of playing the obvious ball, we’ve tried to be cute, and they’ve come back up and scored.

“That typifies where we are. We lack a bit of leadership in the middle of the park. We’ve got some good players but they’re young players and we need to fix that.

“I felt buoyed because what we showed in the first half, it showed we cared. Players were closing things down; they were battling hard and picking up the second balls.

“But this is still a million miles away from where I need the team to be.

He added: “The performance at Thame was diabolical. People were not tracking their runners when something broke down.

“They were looking for someone else to bail them out. That was the game that drew a line through a lot of people for me. I've gone about making those changes and have tried to bring in players that will give me more than what I saw on that night.”

Bartley rested most of his starting XI for Tuesday’s 4-0 Berks & Bucks Senior Cup defeat at Ascot United - a competition he was willing to sacrifice this season for the greater need of finding some form in the league.

Another heavy defeat won’t have done much for the players confidence, and it also means the Blues have conceded four goals in each of their last four matches in all competitions.

They’ve conceded three goals or more in seven of their last nine, so change needs to come to Oak Tree Road and it needs to come quickly if the club are to put the brakes on their recent slide down the table.

“In this league, it’s fine margins,” said Bartley. “We’ve played some of the teams towards the top and the bottom and I don’t think there’s a massive difference between them. It’s quite an even league.

“If we can get ourselves into decent shape and get some momentum, I feel we can go on a decent run.

“But I need to make these changes and to add a bit of experience in the middle of the pitch. We have it in other areas, Chris Ovenden and Alex Salmon at centre half and Naheer Nawaf who is 28 on the wing. Other than that, the team is under 24 years old. They’re young and they don’t have enough experience at the level. We possibly need someone who has a little less mobility but a bit more experience and he’ll keep the guys together and help them to navigate the tough periods in matches. I’m confident we’ll get these guys ready to go before too long.

“Come Saturday, I’m confident we’ll have a good team taking the field that is capable of going and getting the three points.”