I need a few bob to bring in characters - Butler

Sunday 07th February 2010

FRUSTRATED Margate boss Mark Butler has questioned his side’s character after they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Hendon yesterday.

This was described as a must-win six-pointer, as both sides went into the Hartsdown Park clash sitting inside the relegation zone, but Hendon climbed two places above the drop zone in the Ryman Premier League after staging a remarkable comeback.

Margate thoroughly deserved to lead through goals from Lloyd Blackman and Dan Stubbs, but the turning point in the game came just before the hour mark when Aaron Lacy was sent off for handling the ball and Jamie Busby stepped up to convert the resulting penalty.

It was James Bent who scored the equaliser in the 75th minute, but instead of settling for a draw, Peter Dean netted the winner for the north Londoners with just two minutes left.

Butler was his usual honest self, when he reflected upon the defeat, when he spoke in an audio interview with www.margate-fc.com yesterday.

“I thought the first half was as good as we’ve been,” he said. “It seems to be a re-occurring situation with us. We’ve just had apologise from their bench saying we don’t deserve it. We got a little bit of that last week at Kingstonian but you get what you deserve in football.

“I think if you are unlucky in a couple of games you can probably put it down to being unlucky, but this team has a characteristic flaw. It doesn’t have courage in a way it can see out games and we’re seeing it week in, week out and we’ve got to rectify that.

“It has wonderful ability, it’s so frustrating to manage them because I thought the second goal was as good as you’ll see at this level, six or seven passes and I’m quite proud to manage them when they play like that.

“But every week you know, you’re starting to think it’s a big thing a bout it now. You have to question whether the players have got the character to see their through.”

Despite their bright first half, Butler feared the worst after Lacy’s red card turned the game and Hendon went on to score three goals to grab victory.

“I think it had a late win written all over it,” he admitted. ”It was coming in the end and you start feeling it because of the situation.

“We could feel it, the players could probably feel it, the fans could probably feel it. There’s not enough people out on the pitch that are going to stop that happening.

“Fair play to Hendon but it’s all about us at the moment. We’ve got to knuckle down, it’s difficult because when we’ve come in and I’m not making any excuses but we need to try and make changes.”

Butler’s hands are tied as previous boss, Terry Yorath, tied players down to yearly contracts, so bringing in new players is difficult.

But he has managed to draft in Kingstonian second-choice goalkeeper Luke Garrard in on loan, as Matt Reed suffered an injury last week.

“This week has been absolutely horrendous,” said Butler. “I got a late phone call on Thursday night saying I’ve got no goalkeeper so we’re all rushing and I thought Luke Garrard did well for us today and I’m pleased we’ve secured his services for a month.

“We’ve got to bring in personnel in but we’ve got to meet budgets and we can’t get anyone out because everyone’s been put on contracts at the club and it’s just been hard work.”

Butler will sit down with chairman Keith Piper this week, to see if he can get extra funds to bring in stronger players.

“I’ve got to try and speak to Keith this week,” he said. “We need to get a plan together to see if he can give me a few bob.”

Wealdstone visit Hartsdown Park on Tuesday night and Butler wants his players to right their wrongs and claim a vital three points to climb out of the Ryman Premier League drop zone.

“If you’re playing badly and I mean badly you’ve got to say this team is just not good enough but it shows at times that it’s a quality team, but what we’re now finding is one of those qualities that you’ve got to have is a little bit about you,” said Butler.

“I don’t know what the word is, a little bit of a spirit, or a little bit of, excuse my language, balls, maybe, or something along those lines or a bit of courage and you’ve got to stand up and stop those things happening.

“Today, for 45 minutes, it was just amazing football from us, but I’m just so angry how the peaks and troughs of this team are just so vast and there’s some head scratching because we’ve had some good performances today, ironically, although we end up losing again.

“It’s a results game and the bottom line is you could say we were unlucky but I know the game and you can’t be unlucky all the time.

“There’s no coaching manual in this land that can make you handle pressure in a cool, calm, collective way. I guess that’s why the best players are the ones that can do it and that’s why their the most wanted.”

Quotes courtesy of www.margate-fc.com

Margate v Wealdstone

Ryman Premier League

Tuesday 9th February 2010

Kick Off 7:45pm

At Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate, Kent CT9 5QZ