Brabin faces Watkins dilemma

The 20-year-old has been in fine form whenever called upon, putting in a man of the match performance during his last start in the centre of midfield at Grimsby when Town won 1-0 back in October.

But since then, he has been restricted to just 44 minutes of action in five games and was only on for the latter stages against AFC Telford on Tuesday night once more, despite fans calling for him to be introduced much sooner.

Brabin said: “I don’t think they’re putting too much pressure on him and I think he loves it to be honest.

“Quite a few people have said to me, they think I’ve created a monster. He’s been at the club for a bit now, and will probably be the first to admit he was floating around and possibly might not have even been at the club.

“I’ve seen enough of him to see what the fans have seen.

“They’re not stupid, they’ve seen he’s a good player.

“I know he’s a fantastic player and I genuinely love Adam Watkins and want him to do well.

“But just because someone has got promise, playing him every game can sometimes have the reverse effect.

“I’ve seen it happen to team mates and other coaches and other managers and at the moment we’ve got Adam in a really good place.

“I’m delighted the fans have got someone they love and that does heap a bit of pressure on me and I knew that before it happened.

“But I genuinely thought we’d have more points on the board and I’d be big enough to take that.

“When you’re not winning games people want the players like someone local with Adam’s talent getting on all the time and I can understand that.”

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