Momentum I guess . Players shouldn't be tired at this stage of the season but there's always that risk of injuries or suspension . I did get nervous when I heard Ollie picked up a yellow card , but a win is a win !
Have to say that I was very surprised to see our starting line up with the FA Cup game on the horizon. Where were the likes of Bright and Jerome and our much heralded development squad ? If we don't have any players that can slip into these type of games then its not really working is it? Just feel players like Ollie Rowe and Frannie Collin need wrapping in cotton wool this season.
Really don't know why we bother with the League Cup, no decent teams in it, no prize money and the final tends to be at places like Staines! At least the Sussex Cup has teams like Crawley, Brighton & Eastbourne Borough in it and a final at the AMEX.
If we're going to play this one then at least use it as a place to blood a lot of youngsters, the older senior players like Watt, Collin & Bodkin for example should not be involved in this cup for risk of injurys imo.
I have argued in the past that the league cup does allow players coming back from injury to get a competitive game, developing players to get a start and suspensions to get used up. That apart, as others have said, it has few merits. Agree totally with Dan's observations above.
Bright was injured and I believe that Jerome is on a month's loan at East Grinstead. And with the Development Squad having played a league game on Monday night, it was probably unrealistic to expect wholesale changes, although there were still five alterations from Saturday's starting line-up.
But instead of bringing some of the regular first team players on from the bench, Darren bought some of the U21s, who, credit where credit is due, did remarkably well against a good Herne Bay side. So, it's still 5 changes whether some were forced or not.
I will just stress though that the management intended to play more of the younger players last night, but fixtures didn't work in our favour with the Development Squad playing the night before and therefore could not play 90 minutes of football two nights in a row.
