Hayes looking for more experience to stabilise his young squad

9:57am Tuesday 6th May 2008

FOOTBALL

MARTIN Hayes will look to bring an 'old hand' into his Bishop's Stortford side after they missed out on the Blue Square South play-offs.

The Blues looked to be in a strong position to finish in the play-off position for the large majority of the season.

But the young squad run out of steam in the final few weeks and failed to pick up the results they needed to extend their season.

Now boss Hayes has earmarked the area of his squad that needs adjustment and give the team every possible of chance of challenging for a top five finish next time around.

He said: "We've got the ability and the fitness but we've often let ourselves down in doing the right things at the right time.

"Yes, we've missed players at certain times with injuries which has been difficult.

"But we need that little bit of experience. Someone with the know-how, to do the performances that need to be done to win a match."

That 'someone' will most probably be a central midfielder in order to take some of the weight off the shoulders of 25-year-old midfield lynchpin Craig Edwards.

While the Blues collected a fair amount of points against the top sides in the division, they too often lacked the experience to see through the routine wins needed against the midtable outfits.

"Someone strong and experienced in the middle of park would be ideal," said Hayes.

"We've never replaced Dave Rainford (who is now at Dagenham and Redbridge). Craig Edwards has done very well this year but we need someone in there to boss things a little bit.

"We haven't got the biggest cheque book so getting the right player at the right age will be difficult."

The Blues poor end to the season - where they took just three points from a possible 18 - saw them finish the campaign in a disappointing tenth place.

Hayes though, while admitting it could have been better, is not too dissatisfied with the efforts of his players.

"I still wanted us to finish sixth or seventh, somehwere in the single figures, and realistically we should have got another ten points," he said.

"But there's a lot of good sides who fought down at the bottom and we we're not in that.

"So from our point of view it has been 'good, could have been better'."

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