Preston boss Graham Westley spoke to his club's official website and the Lancashire Evening Post ahead of his side's Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round tie against Carlisle at Brunton Park this evening, Westley looking to make some changes to his team just 50 hours or so after North End defeated Swindon 4-1 at Deepdale:
“We need to look at the whole squad and make sure we use the squad to the full, there are a lot of hungry players sitting in the stand and a lot of hungry players sitting on the bench. So, it is about using the squad to the max, making sure that we have got enough fitness and freshness to go on the pitch on Tuesday night. There are a lot of boys in the background itching to show what they are all about and I trust them to do a good job for us at Carlisle.
“I am fortunate in that I have got a lot of lads who have had recent match action, lads like Robbo (Chris Robertson) and (Graham) Cummins sitting in the stand today, they were part of the squad that won the game the other night against Crystal Palace. So, we have got plenty of strength in reserve, plenty of lads who can go and win a football match and it will be a test for the whole squad come Tuesday.
“It’s a tall order for the squad to play games in quick succession. But it’s also a great opportunity for the squad as well because inevitably I’m going to make a lot of changes. It’s difficult to throw people straight back out there and expecting their energy levels to be right. So it’s a great opportunity for the squad to show what they are all about, and if anyone wants to tell me that anyone in my squad isn’t up to winning the game tonight, then let them come to talk to me about it
“We have got some massive players injured, John Mousinho, Joel Byrom, Lee Trundle, Lee Holmes, a lot of quality there. That is going to be coming back into the frame and giving us the opportunity to select from even more strength. It is important across the season, you never know who is going to take a knock, when they are going to take it, whose form is going to dwindle, and you need to be able to select from the full squad and have everybody at it if you are going to be successful."
“Credit to the whole squad for the standards they are putting in in training which raise the level of the team, and even the boys who are injured at the moment, the way that they are conducting themselves, and the personality that they are adding and the confidence that they are adding to the team, it is a squad effort across the season. At any moment in time the shirts are in someone or other’s hands, but you have got to keep everybody together and everybody focused if you are going to be successful.
“Kipling said ‘if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same’ and I’m a great believer in that. I don’t get too down and when things aren’t going my way I tend to focus on what’s working and the work we need to do to become better and when we’re winning, by all means bed in the confidence, but let’s make sure we keep improving because a winning way is one of continuous improvement. Make sure we are better today than we were yesterday and make sure we’re better tomorrow than we were today.
“You can look back at my previous years as a manager and my teams have won a league championship and got to an FA Trophy Final and we reached the Play-Offs and we won the FA Trophy, so alongside our league campaign we managed to put together good Cup campaigns. I think a winning club, a winning squad and a winning team wants to keep winning football matches whatever competition you are playing in.
“You don’t want to concede any ground to anybody – the winning way is one that if you’ve got it in you, you want to put in place every time you take the field. I’ve been fortunate enough to manage at Wembley in two games now and players have played for me at Wembley and it is a great experience and once you’ve had a taste of it, you just want more of it. It’s a fabulous day, a fabulous occasion, a fabulous place and I’m sure our football club would love to go there.”