Sutton United chairman Bruce Elliott has backed manager John Rains' decision to release Moroccan international goalkeeper Chuck Martini.

Martini, who signed for the club from Hendon at the end of last season, played his last game for Sutton in their 2-2 draw away to Maidenhead last Saturday.

Martini's exit paves the way for reserve goalkeeper Tommy Dunn to establish himself in the first team.

Elliott said: "John told me he was letting Chuck go because of the number of mistakes he was making in games.

"Chuck is an international goalkeeper and it would have been wrong to play someone like him in the reserves.

"It's nothing sinister some players come to a club and do well, others don't. It's a good move by John."

Elliott believes reserve team manager Phil Dunn deserves a lot of the credit for producing young players, like Dunn, for the first team squad.

"Tommy and other young players in the reserve team are the future of clubs like ours.

Prime

"Matt Gray, Paul Honey and Tommy have all come through. Ed Hutchinson and his achievements at Brentford are a prime example of what Phil has achieved."

Veteran defender Gywnne Berry has welcomed the club's decision to recall Dunn.

"Tommy deserves his chance. He played one game for me at Dulwich last season and did very well. I think he can make the step up and play regular first team football."

Sutton face a second Saturday off in three weeks tomorrow because of FA Trophy commitments.

Having defeated Dulwich Hamlet 5-3 in the first round of the Ryman League Cup on Tuesday night, Rains' men have to wait until December 8 for their next game at home to Bedford.

"The break could turn out to be a bad thing," said Berry. "Our match fitness could suffer and it could cause problems with fixture congestion.

"We are up to date with the league games, but if we were to play teams involved in the cups it might cause problems at the end of the season."

Berry admits to finding Tuesday night's game against Dulwich Hamlet strange, having been manager at the club until the end of September.

"I signed 80 to 90 per cent of the team, so it was a difficult scenario for me," he said.

"I've never been in that situ-ation before."

December 4, 2001 13:00