'I WILL REPAY THE FAITH'

7:00am Saturday 15th September 2007

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FRUSTRATED Marvin Bartley is hoping to put his injury nightmare behind him and repay Kevin Bond's faith.

Bartley, plucked from non-league football by Bond after a successful trial in the summer, has yet to play a competitive match for Cherries since signing from Hampton and Richmond.

The young midfielder was injured in Cherries' pre-season defeat against Portsmouth and only appeared in a handful of summer outings prior to that.

Having recovered from a badly bruised wrist sustained against Pompey, Bartley then injured his right groin stretching for a ball in training.

An ultrasound yesterday failed to shed any light on the problem and Bartley is now awaiting an MRI scan next week to assess the damage.

The 21-year-old is eager to catch the eye and push himself into contention when he returns to training, but he doesn't yet know how long he will be out for.

He said: "It's quite sore. Certain movements give me pain and changing direction gives me a slight problem."

"It's very frustrating. I just want to play football.

"Seeing the boys in training makes me just want to be out there.

"I'm able to do running but I've done no ball work at all."

And sitting on the sidelines is not something Bartley is used to.

"I can't remember the last time I missed a game in non-league but I've been unlucky (at Bournemouth)," he added.

"I'm not a keen watcher - I just want to play.

"I'd just begun to settle in and get used to full-time training so it was a huge blow for me (to get injured).

"Kevin showed great faith in me and I want to repay that.

"I'll do my utmost to show why he signed me."