HAVING players at Worcester City who are versatile and can operate in several different positions is vital.

Players like that are worth their weight in gold and there are three that spring to mind at our club — Rob Elvins, Neil Cartwright and Marc McGregor.

Rob prefers playing centre-half and I think that’s his favoured position but in the league we are in he can also be effective as a front-man. He has got a knack of getting a goal here and there and he’s strong.

I have asked him to play anywhere down the middle and he’s already played three different positions for us.

When Emeka Nwadike was injured, I felt we still needed to have a holding midfielder and I asked Rob to do that job and I think he’s done it brilliantly. He never complains, he just gets on with it and does his job.

Neil is another utility player. Although, at 29, he’s not a veteran by any stretch of the imagination, he’s got a huge amount of experience and has probably played more games than anyone else in the squad.

He likes to play wide midfield but I think Neil’s exceptional as a full-back because he’s got two good feet and gets forward from deep.

I think he gets more crosses into the box from full-back than when he’s playing out wide in an attacking role.

Marc is predominantly a centre-forward but we have seen him at centre-half for Worcester.

He’s also got a lot of experience and is capable of sitting in front of the back four as support, a role he performed for us in the 2-0 win against Vauxhall Motors last month.

You can’t manage without these type of players but it does make things difficult when several are missing at the same time.

I would say we have got some reasonable strength in depth.

But Danny Edwards, Simon Brown and Neil, who are all wide players, were all un-available at Altrincham last Saturday.

That’s been a problem for us but it’s impossible at our level of football to cover every eventuality and it’s also difficult to stick with the same group of players thr-oughout a season. You need to tinker.

I appreciate everybody will have an off-day but we need consistency and are always looking to improve.

Managers are constantly on the look-out for players to solve problem roles but sometimes you find a player in a different position who you think can improve the squad so you take them.

We registered right-back Martyn Naylor last week and it’s refreshing to know there are still characters like him in the game.

For lots of players, money is a big factor and if they can get a better deal elsewhere then quite a few will take up that option.

But Martyn, who is playing for nothing, is different to that and it’s good to see.