Wanderers launch their Bristol Street Motors Trophy campaign when boss Ian Evatt takes his side back to former club Barrow on tonight, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites – winners of the competition in 2023 – will be looking for a winning start in Northern Group D before facing Fleetwood Town and Aston Villa U21s at home in their remaining two games.
Evatt’s men will be missing five players due to international duty, with Dion Charles, Eoin Toal and Luke Southwood away with Northern Ireland, Josh Sheehan in the Wales’ squad and Chris Forino called up for the first time by St Lucia.
Wanderers are also without a number of players through injury and last week allowed Jack Iredale and Dan Nlundulu to move out to free up space in their squad for one more potential new arrival.
That has stretched resources for the trip to Holker Street, but Evatt will look to a re-shaped side to bounce back from a first home league loss of 2024 against Exeter City on Saturday ahead of a blank weekend due to international calls.
“It’s not ideal timing in terms of the players we don’t have available to us and the fact we have to play a certain number of first-team players to abide by the rules,” said the Wanderers’ boss.
“We can’t just play the kids, although there are likely to be a number involved in the squad which could mean opportunities for them.
“That means we have had to try and balance game-time over this run of three games going into the international break to protect some players for the league fixtures we have coming up and the longer-term.
“That’s been challenging but this is still a good opportunity for some players to get some more valuable game-time to further sharpen them up and for us to go out and put in a performance and get a positive result.
“It’s a game we want to win and we need to react and respond in the right way to start a re-set and then make sure we’re all focused on the run of games we’ve got to come after the break.”
Wanderers beat Barrow en route to lifting the Trophy two seasons ago and last season knocked the Bluebirds out of the League Cup.
The Whites’ only ever visit to Barrow saw them draw 3-3 in their Covid-hit promotion-winning season in 2020/21 as Evatt made it back-to-back promotions a year after taking the Cumbrian club back into the EFL for the first time in almost half-a-century.
And Evatt will be aiming to make it a successful reunion with victory over the side sitting third in League Two after winning three of their opening four league games – as well as knocking Derby out of the Carabao Cup to set up a third-round trip to Chelsea.
“This is a competition that has been good to us over the past few seasons and while the absolute priority is achieving success in the league, we still want to get a win that might help us progress in this trophy as well,” added Evatt, who oversaw a run to the quarter-finals and a penalty shoot-out loss at Blackpool last season.
“The performance at Shrewsbury last week showed more of what we are capable of and has earned us a trip to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.
“Cup football can create a spark and hopefully that will be the case at Barrow. Going back there will always be special for me, given the opportunity they gave me to really start my managerial career and the success we shared, and it will be nice to see fans in the ground this time.
“They have started the season well under Stephen (Clemence), so whatever team we put out we will have to play well to win.”
Fleetwood entertain Villa’s youngster on Tuesday night as Group D gets underway with teams taking a point from a draw after 90-minutes with an extra point available from a penalty shoot-out if the scores are level.