Stratford Town boss to make 'unpopular' decisions this weekend

FRUSTRATED boss Thomas Baillie hinted some of the team decisions he will be making for this Saturday’s game away at Hitchin Town could prove unpopular with the Stratford Town faithful.

Despite sitting third in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Central standings and in with a good chance of securing a play-off spot, Baillie is demanding better from his players.

The call for improvements came after Town slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at AFC Rushden & Diamonds on Tuesday night, their second defeat in three league outings.

Town had dominated the first half and also hit the crossbar twice, but their profligacy in front of goal came back to haunt them as the Northamptonshire side ran out comfortable winners.

REPORT: Stratford Town fall to defeat at AFC Rushden & Diamonds

“Our finishing was simply not good enough and when you look at results every weekend in this division, no team is getting beat by three or four goals,” Baillie said.

“You have to take the chances when they come against teams around you and not scoring goals is something which has caused us a lot of frustration and we’re looking at sorting that out.

“If I am being brutally honest we have got some players here who are doing their talking in the dressing room rather than on the pitch.

“Putting things into perspective, our destiny is still in our own hands, but recently we have simply not been good enough and the players need to stand up and be counted.

“Every team has a blip, no matter what level or division they are in, and if this is ours then we have to get back on the winning trail as soon as possible.

“In a team there needs to be four or five leaders alongside the captain and that is something we don’t have and it’s something we will be addressing.”

Although Hitchin sit 17th in the league standings, Baillie knows his out-of-sorts Town side will be in for a tough battle and stressed the decisions he makes might not go down well with the fans.

“I have given certain players more than enough chances and they have not taken them so the decisions I am going to make on Saturday will probably be unpopular with the fans, but that’s something that won’t worry me,” he added.

“I am quite a calm guy and those players that have had chances need to start repaying me because the players on the bench are thinking why they’re not getting into this team.

“I am not going to be worried by ringing the changes because in certain positions on the pitch we have not been good enough.

“Hitchin are a tough side but if we play to how good we know we can do, then we will stand a chance.

"What we don’t want to see is players going missing on the pitch and I think there’s a few players in the dressing room that have been hiding in recent weeks.

“However, we have not become a bad side and we are sitting third for a reason, but we need to get back on the winning trail.”