SEAN Marks is looking forward to showing Braintree Town fans parts of his game this season that they may not have seen for a while.

When Danny Cowley took over as Iron manager at the end of last season, the 29-year-old striker was one of the first to commit himself by signing a fresh deal and the new boss was quick to acknowledge his value to the club.

However, he said he didn’t want Marks to be the Iron’s “battering ram”.

The experienced front man had got used to former manager Alan Devonshire regularly employing him in a role that saw balls played up to him and other members of the forward unit operating off the service he provided.

It was a physical role that meant Marks came into conflict with opposing defenders, but he is looking forward to having his talents used in other ways under the leadership of Danny and his brother and assistant boss Nicky.

He said: “I think Danny and Nicky know that historically I have been the team’s battering ram.

“I don’t mind that and I’ll take on that role, but there’s more to my game.

“What they are good at is they’ll find ways to get you into scoring areas and hone your skills.

“Having patterns of play that help you, rather than the historical role of crashing it up to me, having a fight with a couple of centre-halves and then everyone else playing off me.

“It is quite nice to have a recognition that we can play so let’s do it, not just have a routine of crashing it forward and squeezing up.

“It’s quite refreshing but it’s one of those situations where we need to be pragmatic.

“There will be times when we can’t do that and we need to be flexible enough to know if it’s not working and maybe we will go more direct.

“That’s something I have seen from the management team.

“They do recognise when to do that whereas sometimes last season we did just keep doing it and hoping we’d get it, but sometimes we didn’t get it.

“I think you will see a different Braintree.

“It’s not going to be so direct, there will be more passes and more touches and we will break against teams more.

“If we can do that and still do the basics that if we need to go long, we go long, that will be really effective in this league.

“I think it can be a really positive season.

“Everyone who knows us and the resources we have, knows we should aim to not be relegated.

“We all know that, but with this bunch of players and knowing how good they are, I think a top-half finish is what we should aim for.

“Anything more is a bonus.

“I’m a firm believer that once we get to the 50-point mark, we can start playing and enjoying ourselves more.

“It’s not by fluke that we have done well in this league so far, though, and it’s about time we got recognition for what we are.

“Maybe it’s time we should see ourselves as being mid-table and if we get anything more then it will be just desserts.”