MARK Bentley says his future at Grays Athletic is unclear after admitting his personal pride has taken a bashing in recent months, following a ninth straight defeat at the weekend.

Grays lost 3-0 to Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday, although it could have been much worse with the visitors mustering 23 efforts on target as opposed to Blues’ two.

Following the departure of key personnel since the end of last year, Grays have been in freefall and Bentley says he is hurting, having returned to the team after breaking his foot in last month’s reverse against Harrow Borough.

“It hurts,” said former Southend United midfielder Bentley. “We have lost so many players and we are playing kids in these games.

“The side we had at the start of the season was more than capable of winning promotion or getting into the play-offs but we are now where we are and it is frustrating the life out of me.

“But I have to deal with it. My personal pride has taken a real bashing and we are going into matches all but knowing we are going to lose. No-one wants to lose nine matches on the bounce but we have a chance to end with a victory at VCD Athletic.

“VCD are relegated and it is a good chance for us to finish well. We are motivated to end well although we are really running out of players and it will be a case of getting 11 players on the pitch. There will be a lot of inexperience in the team but we will have to give it our best.

“Considering we were playing top of the league 3-0 isn’t too bad although we needed (goalkeeper) George (Kamurasi) to save us on a number of occasions.

“George is a great lad and he really saved us as I was going in goal 24 hours before the match. Lamar (Johnson) was suspended and George stepped in to help and thank god he did. He is a good character and there is a future for him at this club.

Bentley must now decide what the future holds for him, having joined Grays at the start of 2015 and leading them to within a point of the play-off positions at the end of last season.

But that couldn’t be further from the conclusion of this campaign, and Bentley says he will make a decision on whether his future lies at Mill Field in the summer.

“It has been really tough,” said Bentley. “I have ambitions as a manager and I have some big decisions to make. I will speak to the guys running the club and the fans trust but whatever decision I come to will be a hard one, but I might not be the right person to take the club forward.

“We could need 18 new players and it will be a complete rebuilding job.

“I have learned so much. I said I would learn more when the team was losing although I didn’t expect things to be this difficult. But I am grateful for the experience.”