Wealdstone boss Gordon Bartlett says his side’s lack of game management skills are the reason they are hovering just six points clear of the Vanarama National League South relegation zone, rather than sitting comfortably in the top half where he believes they should be.

Speaking after Monday’s 2-0 defeat at home to promotion-chasing Sutton United – their second defeat in three days – Bartlett says his side need to learn how to see out matches and win points, and learn the lesson fast.

He said: “Our game management has got to get better. There’s a very fine line between success and failure and we’ve fallen on the wrong side of the fence or sat on it too many times this season.

“We’ve made silly costly mistakes that, with a little more thought, should not have happened.

“We’ve drawn too many matches from winning positions and that’s why, with eight games to go, we are still not safe. When we have the right application we can match anyone in this league.”

He felt there wasn’t much wrong with his team’s performance against a Sutton side he rates as the most effective in the league, but he was fuming with the manner of their 3-2 defeat at Oxford City last Saturday.

He said: “Our performance in the last half an hour on Saturday was probably the worst we have played.

“We threw that match away. I wish I could say that Oxford were much better than us but the truth of the matter is that we were just worse than they were.

“I’m very concerned that we didn’t do a better job on Saturday but we can’t dwell on that. It has gone now.

“We’ve got to learn from it and I prefer to be positive and look towards the next game.”

At Oxford, Stones twice took the lead through Johnny Wright and Bradley Hudson-Odoi, but still contrived to lose their first game in ten matches after a poor second half where they switched off.

Monday’s defeat, which included a controversial penalty for handball, has left the Stones close to the relegation spots and, while Bartlett prefers to remain positive, he admits the Easter programme is huge.

He said: “Easter is massive for us and we’ve got to ensure that we pick up as many points as possible. It’s not panic stations but we do need to get a couple of wins as quickly as we can and then we can concentrate on trying to get into the top half of the table which is where I think we should be.”

He could be boosted by the return of keeper Jonathan North from knee surgery. North trained this week and Bartlett says he has a ‘fair chance’ of making the squad for Saturday’s home game against Margate and Monday’s trip to Bishop’s Stortford.

Midfielder Matty Harriott has left the club to pursue a career playing in America.