Gillingham's Mark Bentley Previews Saturday

Last updated : 18 October 2007 By Thetashkentterror
Mark Bentley
Gills midfielder Mark Bentley spoke to his club's official website about the upcoming clash against Carlisle United at Brunton Park on Saturday afternoon, Bentley talking about the dire away form of the Kent outfit that has seen them win only three of their last 31 games on the road and score just once away from the Priestfield Stadium in six attempts this season :


"I like playing in centre-midfield but I don't think things have been going great for me in the middle. Last year, I played every game wide-right and that is not a problem for me as I just want to be part of the starting eleven, on the team sheet and involved.

" Our away form is certainly disappointing for us, We don't intend to go out there every other week away from home and lose. We cannot put our finger on it and work out why it is happening. We seem to go a goal or two down and we are then chasing the game, that is where we get found out and possibly go on to concede more.

" If we go a goal or two down, we need to rebuild, get our shape back and not go gung-ho trying to nick something from what could be an impossible situation. We are working hard in training and Iffy Onuora has been great this week. He has had a lot to take in especially after the loss of Mick Docherty. We don't want to see Iffy leave the club either so we'll be trying just as hard for him.

" Carlisle is an absolutely tough place to go to. Everyone is going to be thinking "are we going to get smashed again this week?". We are certainly not going to do that and are going there wanting to win the game. We need to go there and, first of all, be solid and don't concede goals.

" If we can do that, we have got the quality up front, especially with Chris Dickson on fire, and there are goals in the team. We are going to Carlisle with confidence. It is not worth being down and maybe we can have some new luck. We shouldn't be scared of Carlisle. They have got a good home record but every team needs to lose a few.

"There are bad memories of Carlisle for me. I got sent-off last year. I'll be wanting to put things right this season. The boys are looking forward to it. It is a long way to go and we lost five-nil there last year. When I got sent-off last year, we were one-nil down and getting back into the game. We then let in another four goals in the last ten minutes.

" I want to put things right this year. A similar thing happened at Nottingham Forest this year when I limped off. Forest are a good side and when you're two goals down, you are chasing the game and losing your shape, that is where we get opened up. We need to be solid. We didn't win too many games away from home last year.

" We took some good leads on the road last year but this year, we're not even looking like we are going to win. That is the most disappointing thing. We don't want to be losing by four or five goals every time we go away. It is not nice for us or the supporters who spend their hard-earned money getting up there. We want to put things right."