Brabin could tinker with a winning side

Town eased past Tamworth 3-0 in their Blue Square Bet Premier clash on Saturday, but after the game, the likes of Keith Keane, Craig McAllister, Dean Beckwith, Shane Blackett, Charlie Henry, Ed Asafu-Adjaye and Godfrey Poku all took part in a mini-training session on the deserted Kenilworth Road surface.

With an almost fully fit squad to choose from, bar Amari Morgan-Smith and James Dance, Brabin now has plenty of selection headaches to contend with.

He said: “The lads who played have got to do the right recovery, get themselves right and up for it.

“Then the lads who haven’t been involved, we need to get them right and vying for places as there’s no guarantee people will be keeping the shirts.

“I genuinely picked a side that I thought was worthy and capable of winning the (Tamworth) game.

“It was pleasing we’ve achieved that, but that’s not to say that we take the lads on the fringe of things lightly.

“We’ve got Craig McAllister who’s come on and did really well, he’s going to be vying for a spot as well as Keith Keane who was disappointed he wasn’t in the 16.

“Danny Crow is back fully fit, we’ve got Dean Beckwith and Shane Blackett, Craig Henry and Ed, so we’ve got some players on the fringe of things who are desperate to play football.

“That’s what I want so lets see how the preparation goes.”

The right back position could be a quandary for Brabin with Curtis Osano needing to be substituted early on at the weekend, but despite Dan Gleeson looking like he’ll miss out too, the boss has plenty of options.

He said: “It does help when we’ve got a settled back four. It’s just the right back position that seems to be the problem.

“Gleeson is definitely struggling and we’ll see how Curtis is. Hopefully we’ve brought him off in time, it’s not too much of a problem and if not we’ll assess the situation.”

On whether Keane coud slot straight back in at full back, Brabin continued: “Keith just wants to play football for the club, he doesn’t mind where he plays. I’m sure if he had a start on Tuesday he’d gladly take the right back shirt, but there’s a few things we’ve got to look at and Keith is certainly in our thoughts.”

Opponents Barrow have been in turmoil recently after joint-boss Darren Sheridan left the club by mutual consent after five years in charge at Holker Street.

The 44-year-old had been suspended by the Bluebirds for undisclosed reasons while the club launched an internal investigation.

Former Hatter Dave Bayliss is now in sole charge and Brabin, who signed striker Jason Walker from Barrow last season, said: “We’re quite friendly with both the management duo and I haven’t really had a lengthy conversation so I don’t know what’s gone on behind the scenes there.

“They’ve done well over the years, got Barrow back in this division, so I’m sure they’re both gutted about what happened, but I’m sure there’s a reason for it.

“David will be gutted losing his partner, but I’m sure he’ll relish doing it on his own as equally as he was doing it in a partnership.

“I’m sure he’ll be right up for this game.

“We’ve just got to take that out of the occasion, we know when we go up there, we’re another big scalp for them, and weve got to make sure we’re right.”

Town won 1-0 at Barrow last year, thanks to Matthew Barnes-Homer’s strike and this season, the Bluebirds have impressed, sitting in 11th position, still in with an outside shot of making the play-offs themselves.

Brabin added: “I’m expecting it to be tough. All the things which we’ve got to expect against teams who look at us as a big scalp. They’re going to make it hard for us, we know that’s the norm now.

“We’ve just got to rise above that and try and put in another performance like we did on Saturday and get the right result as well.

“I know a lot of their players, they’ve got some good players, so it’s not going to be easy but no game is in this league.

“I’m delighted with the last few games and the last few results and we’ve just got to continue that.”

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