Preston to provide a good test for the second eleven

I didn't post following the hard fought two nil win against Exeter City's ten men at the weekend.  I was surprised by the general negative feedback being given some addick's.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not viewing Chris Powell and this season through any rose tinted spectacles, and am quite realistic about our chances.  I can see where the management and playing staff may have some short falls. But we shouldn't lose sight that this is a new squad in it's infancy, and we are still unbeaten and up there mixing it in what is looking to once again turn out to be a fiercely competitive division.

The bottom line is that against ten men we did not play too spectacularly, but did grind out the required result. (This is a familiar sound bite churned out about teams that tend to go on and  win things!)

I'm certainly not panicking, and still believe this will be our season, with Chris at the helm.  It was good to see that Stephens, despite a quiteish game, had not lost his nerve after his miss against Sheffield Wednesday and put the ball away from a similar distance this time to ensure the end of the game was not too much of a squeaky bum affair.

Onto tonight.  By the looks of it Powell is going to mix things up again, and I won't be surprised to see a similar line up to that which played so well against Reading.  I'm sure Preston, who now are going great guns, will take the opportunity to rest a few players as well.  I think we have enough quality in our squad to make a really good fist of things tonight, and fully expect progression to the next round.

I think that when you have a squad of our size and quality The League Cup actually presents a great opportunity to keep these players fresh and competitive.   I hope Pritchard gets another start, and Cort gets his debut.

The only trouble area is up front. With Benson struggling with an injury, I don't think it would be a great idea to risk BWP and Hayes, as our best two forwards with very little cover of high enough quality to cover injury.

Perhaps this is the opportunity for Powell to try and start with a different formation? To try and form the Plan B that we've lacked a bit in the early days of the season.  It will be interesting to see how we set up in attack.