WITHAM Town manager Adam Flint insists changes will be coming if his players can’t show that they can be leaders on the pitch.

A dismal 4-1 defeat at Grays Athletic last weekend means Witham will head into quickfire back-to-back games against Heybridge Swifts on the back of a five-game run in Bostik League division north when they have taken just a single point from a possible 15.

The first of those games comes on Friday night at the Village Glass Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm), with the return fixture at Swifts’ Scraley Road home on Tuesday and with Heybridge having won and scored 21 goals in their last four outings, Witham know they will have to step up their own game.

“We have to bounce back,” said Flint.

“I don’t know how we’ll do it but we have to on Friday and start a run that gets us going again.

“I will pick players who I trust will give it everything.

“People like John Watson and Tommy Robinson.

“Jack Kemsley did alright when he came on against Grays and I’ll probably go with him on Friday as I know he’ll care about it.

“I need people who care, but it looked to me at Grays as though there were some in there who didn’t care.

“They can’t just come in and pick up a bit of expense money.

“I can’t have that happening, not to a club like us.

“I felt bad taking the money off the chairman at the end of the game on Saturday.”

Flint is demanding better from his players after seeing his team slip to 17th in the division north table and said that if they can’t step up as he wants them to then he won’t shy away from making significant changes to his squad.

“Their mentality has to change,” added Flint. “That and their desire.

“They have to believe they are going to win everything.

“They have to work hard because you very rarely beat another team if you don’t work harder than them. We have to start working harder.

“From what they’ve been showing me recently, though, I don’t know if we have the players to be leaders. I know some of them can be, but they are not being at the moment. I’ve said about making changes and it can be hard to do that at this time of year but I do have some options.

“I think I may have to move a couple on and there are players who I know are available to bring in.

“What I wanted to do was be fair to the players who I have, but I don’t think I can do any more and maybe it’s time to bring some fresh faces in.

“It seems like it’s petering out and I don’t want that to happen.

“I want to finish higher than what we did last season and players are definitely playing for their shirts now.

“It just wasn’t good enough at Grays.

“They have experience in their team, but you can’t use that as an excuse.

“Once again, we didn’t turn up.”