Ilkeston Town v Guiseley or Eastwood Town
Sklelmersdale United v Marine
Witton Albion v Gateshead
Worksop Town or Whitby Town v Frickley Athletic
Saturday 9 February
Which means back to back visits by Gateshead as they come to us in the League on 16.02.08.
GE
Tie of the round!!
I know which of the two Gateshead games I’d prefer to win.
Going for the DOUBLE then ?
Not bothered by the cup result by the cup result on the 9th, it does give us the opportunity to size them up for the important match the following week - call it a free scouting match!
That works both ways!
Indeed it does, however they will not learn much about us from the amount of reserve players we are likely to field! The same may be true of them, however they may field more of a first team if this is the only competition they could win! We have to start with 8 first team ‘regulars’ although I am not sure how regular these have to be!
Is Evans cup-tied??
Yes. He played and scored in Skelmersdale’s first round game.
GE
We have to go for the DOUBLE - you cannot switch on and off at the business end of the season.
I agree Eli. If anybody has got a knock before the league cup game then obviously they need resting, but we should play the strongest team available. Winning is a habit!
I am not suggesting we should not try to win it, I don’t think any team we field will take to the pitch wanting anything other than the win. However, why would you risk players like Kennedy, Lloyd, Brown, Warlow and others in a league cup game - simply not worth it. If we get to the semi’s then a few more of the first team may feature.
My only argument with that Rabbit, is that some players may then go 2 Saturdays without a game as we don’t have a game on the 2nd February. If we’re willing to risk players in a friendly against Stockport on Tues 29th, why not play them against Gateshead on the 9th?! We need players to be match fit as we go into the business end of the season.
Depends really. Some players may be carry slight knocks and therefore may appreciate a 2 week rest period, they may benefit from it come April.
I think Rutter, Brown, Craven, and possibly that defender that came off the bench on Saturday, would all appreciate a run-out i’m sure.
So why arrange a friendly at the end of Jan then?! That’s surely an opportunity to rest players???
Have you already seen the team sheet for the friendly match?! Do you know the line up?!
Have you?!
Having read that Stockport are going to play fringe first team players and youth team players, are we really going to field a load of youngsters or a really weak side?! We’d get hammered and it would serve no purpose.
I would of thought if our team was going to be particularly weak, we’d arrange a friendly against lower level opposition???
Perhaps we have trialists?! Perhaps Stockport want a look at one of our players?!
It’s of no benefit commenting on a friendly match when we don’t know what purpose Jim is planning on it serving at this moment in time.
In fairness, Jim might use the friendly to play the fringe players/youngsters and the league cup game to play the first team. It could also be the other way round.
My point is that I wouldn’t like to see first team players risked in a friendly if a league cup game is not worthy of them being risked.
We are speculating about the strength of the team in both games and Jim might shock everybody with his choices, I’m sure everybody has an opinion on it. That’s what makes forums and football in general interesting!
Friendly is off.
GE