SWINDON Town manager Michael Flynn admitted he has a team-selection dilemma on his hands ahead of the Robins’ League Cup first-round tie against Peterborough United on Tuesday night.
Fourth-tier Swindon will travel to League One Peterborough’s Weston Home Stadium in midweek looking to reach the competition’s second round for the first time since 2014.
The cup clash will also be Town’s first competitive game of the season after their League Two opener against Colchester United was postponed on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch.
Teams often decide to make a handful of changes for knock-out fixtures, but Swindon’s boss is in a unique position where none of his squad has any full-tilt minutes under their belt just yet.
As a result, Flynn claims he is still some way from finalising a starting XI for the Peterborough game.
Speaking on Monday, he said: “I’d rather have a cup run in the FA Cup, if I could choose one. That’s more lucrative and, for me, it’s still one of the best cup competitions in the world.
“But the League Cup is going to be a tough one, away at Peterborough.
“I’m in a little bit of a dilemma at the moment over what to do, team selection-wise, because I probably would have made a couple of changes – win, lose, or draw on Saturday. Now that’s off, I’m still debating what to do.
“Do I get everybody up to speed for 60 minutes and then make a few changes? Or do I stick with my initial process that I had where I make changes. I don’t know, is the honest answer right now.
“I will have a long, hard think over the next 24 hours or so.”
Darren Ferguson’s Posh are likely to make changes after beating Reading 1-0 in Berkshire on Saturday.
Any switch at left-back could see former Town loanee Joe Tomlinson come up against the club where he spent some of last term.
Town boss Flynn says both teams will go into the contest playing a guessing game over team line-ups, but knows whoever he picks will be raring to get their season underway.
Flynn said: “Peterborough had a fantastic away win at the weekend, so they might look to rest a few or change it up.
“The only advantage [of the Colchester game being postponed] is that our players are fresh because they haven’t just had 100 minutes at the weekend.
“But then they might be behind a few Peterborough players because they haven’t got as many minutes in the tank.
“But what I will say is, the players have been very, very well-prepared through pre-season. Hopefully, we get a positive result.”
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