The John Barton column

THIS weekend sees us on the road to Welling United and we badly need to rediscover our away form from last year.

We had a 1-0 win last year with Marc Burrow grabbing his first senior goal for the club and our away record for the season was only bettered by Margate and Burton, but this year we've had a poor return on our travels.

The difference between this year and last is that we have conceded far too many away goals.

Last year we were not conceding any in the final third of the game and were therefore not chasing games and could score a late goal to win it.

Welling are just below us in the league, but it is all about what happens on the day because the teams are all so close the form book and league position means nothing. It is all about how you cope on the day.

Against Newport we looked more solid with Mark Blount alongside Martin Weir and Carl Heeley in a 3-5-2 formation.

For most of the games I've been in charge we've played 4-4-2 but injuries have sometimes dictated the way we play and we've used wing backs which is a difficult position to play.

It's a devil of a job to get right and if you are not careful you can end up playing five at the back.

What system we play is something I'll look at but I just think at times 3-5-2 gives us an extra midfield player, which is important to us, but we have been struggling with width.

It's a big ask for youngsters like Jamie Hyde and Dwaine McFarlane to play that role -- one minute wing backs are expected to get on the end of crosses at the back post and the next minute clearing them off the line -- it's a tough role.

But systems don't win you games players do and I've played in matches that have not gone well and in the bar afterwards its always blamed on the system but at the end of the day its down to players to perform.

On that front it was great to see Stewart Hadley, Leon Jackson and Blount have the desired impact on Saturday and there was a real buzz around St George's Lane even if the match didn't quite catch fire.

The new players were our best performers but it's still going to take time to bed them into the team but I'm sure they'll be an asset.

The Newport game was a drawn affair with few chances and I don't think we deserved to win or lose but Jackson had a couple of chances and looked lively.

The biggest criticism I've had of the side is that we give possession away too easily and cheaply in non pressure situations.

You can't get the team up the pitch if you give it away and ultimately you spend more time trying to retrieve the ball.

On the transfer front we would still like to bring in both striker Adam Webster and central defender James Richardson from Bedworth United --but that is out of our control.