The John Barton column

I HAD a strong and frank exchange of views with certain players after last week's defeat at Bedworth United and told them to pull their socks up or else.

We missed too many chan-ces and I'm not just going to let it happen without taking any action and I spelt out exactly what we expect.

The players have been honest and frank and admitted they've not played well but we're not going to sit around and wait for them to get it right - they've had opportunities and if they can't do it we'll look at other players.

It's up to them to grasp the nettle because they are part of a good football club and are well looked after.

I want to see hungry players with good attitudes and a will to do well - people like Leon Jackson who gets around the pitch and wants to be involved in everything.

I had words with Mark Shepherd and he responded with a hat-trick and I'm pleased for him.

He doesn't duck and dive, he's an honest lad and I like and admire him for the reasons that he came to this club when he had more on offer elsewhere.

He showed us enough last season for us to see he was worth persevering with and we did that by offering him a contract.

But for him like a lot of others pre-season didn't exist for a number of reasons. Some players took holidays in that period but it's going to be different next year and there's a little tip for anybody who wants to have a go at being in the first team at the start of the season - get your holidays sorted out before pre-season.

The performance against Welling United was as good as the Bedworth display was bad. Where you struggled to name any contributions against Bedworth we had no shortage of players showing their ability on Saturday.

Everybody who was there contributed and that is what is required to win games and show improvement.

We switched to a 4-4-2 system with Paul Carty at left-back. We felt we have been poor down the flanks, on both sides from full back and wide positions.

Carty is two-footed and has got a decent knowledge of the game and he can play when in possession.

Dwaine McFarlane also came in and he can feel happy with his contribution.

The only disappointment from Saturday was that it was a 5-1 job not a 3-1 and it was the usual problem of not taking chances.

Jackson, Mark Blount and Stewart Hadley have freshened things up which is exactly what we were looking for.