KOC v Yaxley

[icm]

What sort of a side should Peaksie field for the cup? Does he put out a side mainly consisting of under 21s to save players for the run in or does he put out a strong team going for the double?

[sussexdiamond]

No question about it. He goes for his strongest team available. By that I mean he plays tomorrows subs from the start and, if fit, Neil King. Maybe a couple of youngsters among the subs.
We have not won the league yet, we could end up with nothing and it is time we had some silverware.
Its fatal if you start to pick and choose what games you want to win or lose.....you invariably lose.
You only have to look at the Premiership clubs who chop and change and they nearly always come unstuck.

This match deserves our full support, so get along there and look forward to another home tie with Wisbech (or Cogenhoe) and a Cup Final on 2nd May.

[Formic]

The league is first, second, third and fourth priority as far as I'm concerned.

We've already seen the impact the KO Cup competition might have on our season, as both Jack Ashton and Adam Confue picked up a yellow card in the last KO Cup game that contributed to pushing them past the five booking mark before Christmas, and as a result neither started at Thurnby - and we all know what happened there.

We have six players who have picked up a red card already this season, so a red card in one of three possible KO Cup games would see them miss at least two and possibly four games, Is it worth the risk given we now have quite a small pool of players, especially at the back?

If we had an easy path to the final it might be different, but clearly any game we now play in that competition will be high pressure.

We saw in the R&DFC days that too much involvement with the FA Cup hampered our attempts to get out of the conference, and it was very telling that in the season we won promotion to the league we did relatively badly in both the FA Cup and FA trophy.

[rushdenman]

Yaxley have pretty much blown any chance of winning the League so I think they will be well up for the cup game, which would mean we would need to be at our very best to progress.
Given that, plus the potential difficult route to the final, I think we should protect our key players by resting them for the cup game to avoid injuries/cards/fatigue, etc.

Let's concentrate on promotion and then have a real go at the F.A. Trophy next season ;)

[Bob's Bitch]

I agree with Formic, ultimately whatever happens this season we won't remember what happens in the KOC. We win the league/gain promotion and that defines the season, or we don't win promotion and that defines the season, winning or losing the KOC wouldn't change either of those narratives.

I say play the reserves and focus on our only goal.

[Sid]

Success breeds success, if we were to win at Yaxley then I doubt we would drop another point.
I would obviously leave out our 2 first choice strikers, we've got another two on the bench who would be first choice at any other club in the division. Richard Bunting must be left out as well, two games a week is probably too much for him, Charlie Butt at right back. with Joe Merrill playing some part. Otherwise pretty much as normal, players want to play football!

[Bob's Bitch]

Success breeds success, if we were to win at Yaxley then I doubt we would drop another point.

What if we picked up a couple of injuries though?

[SouthRushdenJFC]

Success breeds success, if we were to win at Yaxley then I doubt we would drop another point.

What if we picked up a couple of injuries though?

We could pick them up any game, training or at work if your job is manual.

[updiamonds]

To me this is a difficult one.

The league is are main goal, to win the league

So why would we want any distractions, (any player picking up any injuries, cards etc) why risk it, why.

Big picture is league, so why risk it. I know you can pick up injuries anytime, (but why risk it)

Also Yaxley will be up for the game, (also if we do get through) more games to play, even more distractions from are main aim (the league) more games, more chances of injuries and cards.


Play the reserves and let focus on are main aim the league.

[Bob's Bitch]

Success breeds success, if we were to win at Yaxley then I doubt we would drop another point.

What if we picked up a couple of injuries though?

We could pick them up any game, training or at work if your job is manual.

I'd rather the players pick up injuries busting a gut to win a league game (very important) than pick up one in a competition that doesn't matter in the slightest and that no one will remember in a month's time. Can anyone name that last two KOC winners off the top of their heads and if we were to win it, would they really remember it in a year's time and look back on it fondly?

It's a pointless competition and an unwanted distraction.