United face Barrow in their final Papa Johns Trophy group game tonight and they head into the encounter knowing that a win offers them their best opportunity of progression to the next stage, pending the final result in Fleetwood’s meeting with the Manchester United U21 side.
“It’s a game I want to win because I want us to stay in the competition,” manager Paul Simpson said. “I don’t even want to win on penalties, I want to win it in 90 minutes.
“They’ve had a brilliant start to the season, I know they’re on a bit of a dodgy run at the moment, but they’re still a decent side.
“It’s a local derby and that’s another reason to want to win the game. If you get through to the next stage you hope to get a little bit of luck in the draw and see if we can get ourselves closer to having a Wembley appearance.
“I’m making no bones about it, I want to stay in the competition, because that’s important to me and the players.
“We talk about stats, and I hate those sorts of stats that tell us that Barrow haven’t won in five games, because it means they’re getting close to winning again, because they’re a good side. So, let’s go and do it properly and see what it does for us.”
With players coming into the team at the drop of a hat and playing well, there’s no doubt that will be the same for the eleven who get the nod for tonight’s game.
“The truth is we had a group of 19 players on Saturday,” he told us. “Ryan Carr was the one who missed out, and we don’t have anybody else.
“The same 19 players will go to Barrow and it’s up to me and the staff to get a permutation together of what team to start, making sure we look after players who we don’t believe should do Saturday-Tuesday.
“And we want to give players an opportunity who are bursting at the seams to play, and I want to go there and win.
“I want everybody freshened up and recovered because I want to win, it’s as simple as that. I said 19 but, to be fair, Ben Barclay and Tobi Sho-Silva will be added to that.
“I’ve got to make a decision as to whether it’s too early for Tobi, maybe just to be on the bench and do the warm-up, then maybe get a little taster at the end, if he’s right. I think that’ll give him a boost.
“This is the group we’ve got, we haven’t got anybody else. I hope we have two more available for next weekend, which would give us a little bit more depth, and we’ll see where we go from there. But I can assure everybody, I want to go and win this game.”