ERNIE Howe has revealed he needed to see Scott Tarr display the right attitude towards regaining his goalkeeper's jersey before restoring him to the side.

Tarr was recently banned after getting sent off against Weymouth, missing the game against Eastbourne for his red-card offence.

Faced with the 33-year-old's enforced absence, allied with a lack of faith in the now-departed Mark Zawadski's ability, Howe brought in Crawley's Andy Little on a loan period.

Although at fault for Eastbourne's goals in the 2-0 defeat, Little kept his place for the 2-1 defeat at Cambridge, as Tarr was unable to train that week because of work commitments.

Little has now returned to the Conference club and Tarr was back between the sticks for Town's 5-1 win over St Albans on Saturday.

But Howe said he kept Tarr out for an extra game to restore an edge to the big goalie's approach.

He explained: "He wasn't happy at not going straight back in after serving his ban, but he hadn't been in training all week and couldn't expect to be an automatic starter.

"It was the same for Scott Smith when he had to work away for a week, earlier in the season, after the Carshalton game."

Howe added: "For the first time since I brought Chad Harper here from Millwall, 18 months ago, Scotty wasn't first choice and he didn't like it.

"But there are lots of people in the squad who have been as bitterly disappointed on many more occasions when I've changed things about. They've dealt with it and got on with things, so instead of bleating about it, I needed to see Scotty graft to get his place back.

"To be fair, he has given me the right attitude and response. I hope it's an approach he will maintain throughout the rest of the season."

Tarr had little to do on Saturday in Town's excellent win, but there was an assuredness at the back that stemmed from him which certainly helped his defenders.

Apart from failure to deal with the set-piece that led to St Albans' equaliser, the defence looked far happier with Tarr barking behind them and, when called into action, Jason Bristow and Liam Parrington dealt ably with trouble.

First published: Friday, March 4