IT was great to see midfielder Andy Ellis back in action in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Folkestone.

We knew in many respects that his first game back would probably be the easiest, having been out for over a year with his broken leg.

We still weren't sure which way it was going to go, and we took more than a little gamble by playing him from the start.

He has had a few training sessions but hadn't had any matches other than the reserve game against Rushden which was a week and a half before.

What he showed in a one-off game needs to be followed up and maintained, but we did see exactly what we have missed for the last 12 months.

The quality of our football was as good as what we have played for a long while. We had more possession, had it for longer periods of time and didn't give it away as often as we have done recently.

The fact that we held possession for longer periods resulted in Danny McDonnell and the defenders in front of him having less to do than they have had for some time.

Andy's influence also brought out the best in Ian Cottrill and Steve Lutz, and I thought they both had their best games for a while as well.

It was a win at home, we got a couple of goals and kept a clean sheet and the performance was good as well as the result -- it was a good day for us on Saturday.

Another pleasing aspect was how well we finished the game. We had good possession and rather than look as if we were going to concede, we looked as if we were going to get three or four.

Micky Cotter also deserved his goal. To be fair his performances haven't warranted selection so far, but I just saw something when he was on for the last 20 minutes at Salisbury that we hadn't previously had -- some controlled play and a bit of aggression in his game, and it looked as if we were going to give their defenders something to think about.

We now have games against the bottom two sides to look forward to. We go to Fisher on Saturday, and sometimes games against these sides, particularly after the turn of the year, can be tricky.

But if we are as confident and assured in our play as we were on Saturday, we can give any side in this league a game.

Then it's Dorchester at home on Monday, but we will get Saturday out of the way before we think about that one.

Midfielder Paul Carty was placed on the transfer list last week along with striker Chris Jefferson.

We have to examine with everybody whether we are getting something back for the investment we have made.

Nobody knows Paul as well as I do, having worked together at Nuneaton in the past, and when he came back from his loan spell at Nuneaton last year he was a very influential player and his form was superb.

Response

That is what he is capable of, but for a couple of months now we have had no response to it, and if you don't get any response you eventually lose patience.

How it frees us up in terms of our budget will only be determined if Paul leaves the club, but certainly as long as he is around he will be treated the same as everyone else.

It is a decision I thought was right for us at the moment, and right for us to see what we can free up and use to our advantage.