'Tough game' - Marvin Bartley previews derby as Queens travel to Annan Athletic
Watch the full interview with Queen of the South manager Marvin Bartley.
Queen of the South manager Marvin Bartley is expecting a "tough game" for his side as they travel to Annan Athletic this weekend.
The Doonhamers currently sit in eighth place in League One, seven points and one place above Annan, after 27 matches played this season.
With just nine matches of the season remaining Queen of the South will still have aspirations of putting together a run to challenge the sides ahead of them for a spot in the play-offs.
Ahead of the derby match this weekend Marvin Bartley spoke to ITV Border saying that he is treating this match in the same way he does every other game this season.
He said: "I am boring, everything just kind of goes into every single game with me. I try not to change and I give every game my all and this game will be no different.
"Obviously there will be massive excitement for the fans because it is derby weekend and the players will be exactly the same.
"They will be looking forward to this game massively but I try to keep as calm as I possibly can because for me it is about going to get three points in every game and this Annan game is no different."
Queen of the South have recorded three victories from three against Annan Athletic in the league this season.
Bartley though is keen for his players to keep their feet on the ground ahead of the game and to ensure they come away with all three points again.
He said: "That doesn’t make any difference to me what has happened previously. My players shouldn’t take that for granted either thinking they can just turn up and win a game of football.
"We have beaten them three times this season and they will be hurting from the three defeats. That makes no difference and doesn’t give me any confidence and if my players play to their best then I know what they can do in games of football.
"If we don’t do that then we can make our afternoons a lot more difficult than they need to be. It is over to us to concentrate on this game, take it in isolation and the three other times that we have beaten them this season mean absolutely nothing."
Bartley has been frustrated with his sides defending from set pieces in recent weeks including in the last game against Stirling Albion.
Dale Carrick scored an 89th minute equaliser for Stirling Albion from a corner with Bartley's side conceding in similar circumstances as they did in the game against Edinburgh City a couple of weeks earlier.
Bartley said: "You can do all of the training that you want but it is about when you are in these situations and having cool heads and going to do your job. That has been the harsh reality of this season really, at times we have cost ourselves.
"This week has been no different in terms of the process of doing things but people have been left in no uncertain terms that is your job to do that.
"When the ball goes out of play, people call it a dead ball situation, that doesn’t mean that your brain does exactly the same. You have to refocus at that point.
"We have been hammering that home and at times I look at the age of the group and it is a really young group. I remember what I was like at 21 and 22, they are all trying to learn at the same time.
"You are going to get those lapses in concentration but they have to be few and far between. It happened against Edinburgh City and Stirling Albion and Annan will be trying to play on that as well and we have to be ready for it."
Although Queen of the South are on a five match winless run, Bartley feels as though the mood amongst his players has remained in a positive place.
He said: "Their mood doesn’t go up and down, definitely not around me. If we win a game of football we have to come in and do the same as if we had lost or drawn.
"Things aren’t done off of emotion. We have drawn too many games recently, when you look at our last 13 games there has been too many draws there. Two or three of them have come from conceding in the last minute.
"It is not like the boys have been totally outplayed in games."
Annan Athletic drew 1-1 against unbeaten Falkirk away from home in their last game. Asked what he was expecting against Peter Murphy's side, he said: "A tough game because it is a derby.
"It is an extremely tight pitch and he has done a good job to get them into this league. They are here on merit and it is going to be a tough game, all derby games are. It is going to be physical because they are there.
"They get in close, get into your face, particularly because of the smaller pitch. I am worried about my team and not Annan with all due respect to them. We have to go out there and do what we need to do."
Bartley believes his players should embrace being professional footballers and does not believe a word should be used when talking about football.
He said: "You have to stand up to the demands and the pressures. This word in football pressure. We are doing something that we absolutely love every single day.
"We go out and play football on a Saturday where people are paying to watch you, that is not pressure.
"Pressure is going home to your family and being unable to put food on the table, pressure is being unemployed and being unable to find another job. We need to find another word for it because it’s not pressure, we need to embrace what we are doing.
"We need to go out there and do what we do to the best of our abilities because as footballers you are in charge of so many people’s weekends. When your team wins a game of football there is no better feeling.
"I have been in football for a long time and before that I had what people call a normal job, that was pressure, this is something that I love to do."
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