After a slow start to the campaign, Chester are now up to 11th in the League Two standings on the back of an improved recent run of form. Their 2-1 victory against Hartlepool last week moved City to within six points of the top six and manager Mark Wright will be hoping for another maximum return when his side travel to lowly Barnet this weekend. Givemefootball’s Mark Shail caught up with experienced full-back Simon Marples, who is enjoying life at the Deva Stadium after spending seven years at Doncaster Rovers…
Q:THINGS SEEM TO BE GOING WELL NOW AFTER A DIFFICULT START?
A:“We actually won our first two games, then struggled for a while, but now we’ve managed to turn things around and things are going well for us. This is such a tight league and a couple of wins on the trot can lift you seven or eight places up the table. We’re now within half a dozen points of the top six.”
Q:WHAT DO YOU PUT THE IMPROVED RUN OF FORM DOWN TO?
A:“We changed our system to three central defenders, playing with wing-backs, and it just didn’t seem to work for us. After a disappointing run, the gaffer then decided to go back to basics and return to a 4-4-2 system. Since then we’ve looked much more solid and results have picked up.”
Q:DO YOU FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE IN A 4-4-2 FORMATION?
A:“I played in a 4-4-2 system at Doncaster for seven years so I suppose it’s the formation I’m most used to. I think if you asked ten players what system they are most comfortable with, nine of them would say 4-4-2. You only had to look at Gary Neville for England, even a player of his experience and consistency looked out of sorts when he played as a wing-back for England recently.”
Q:WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE LEAGUE THIS SEASON?
A:“This division is always tight and the teams at the bottom are more than capable of beating the teams at the top. We’ve played Swindon, Walsall and MK Dons already and so far I haven’t seen a team that we need to be fearful of. In this league the matches against the sides at the bottom are just as important as the games against the teams at the top.”
Q:CHESTER HAVE SCORED ONLY 15 GOALS IN 15 GAMES THIS SEASON. HAS GOALSCORING BEEN A PROBLEM?
A:“Yes it has, but we scored two against Hartlepool last Friday and hopefully our recent run of good form will have given our strikers confidence. Goalscoring is about being confident when the chances come your way and I’m sure our goals record will improve as the season goes on.”
Q:WHAT IS THE TARGET FOR THE CLUB THIS SEASON?
A:“It has to be a play-off place. We’re currently 14 points off the top team and five off seventh place. We signed a number of new players in the summer and it’s taken a bit of time for us to gel but now we’re on a bit of a role and I certainly wouldn’t rule out an automatic promotion spot. As I said, we’ve beaten MK Dons already and drawn with Walsall so we’ve got nobody to fear.”
Q:WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF MANAGER MARK WRIGHT?
A:“I’m enjoying working with him and his training is very good. The problem we’ve got at the moment is that the training ground has cut up really badly and he’s worried that, come January, it’s going to be a mess. That’s a big concern for us because we want to avoid having to switch to training on Astroturf. We did that while I was at Doncaster and a lot of players picked up injuries due to the surface.”
