AFC Wimbledon could progress to the knockout stages of the Leasing.com Trophy on Wednesday night and Glyn Hodges is set to offer young players a chance to grasp that opportunity.
With no game for Southend at the weekend due to international call-ups, Glyn is expecting his opposite number Sol Campbell to put out a strong side at Roots Hall, but our manager had been planning his approach to this game for some time.
Zach Robinson, Jack Madelin, and Finlay Macnab were all on the bench for the home game versus Doncaster on Saturday and with a hectic run of fixtures coming up they could get opportunities.
Speaking ahead of the match, Glyn said: “It’s probably a similar situation to when I first came in. I recognised that the Orient game and winning that after Rochdale would give us a bit of momentum. It was a key game and I think they will be thinking the same about tomorrow. They haven’t got a game at the weekend as their match at Southend has been called off due to international call-ups. I think they are going strong, but it will be a good experience and a good game. This is an opportunity to see where we are with our young ones. We’ve got some good young talent and hopefully they catch the eye tomorrow.
“It’s a good competition. We will take this as an opportunity to put some young ones in and blood a couple of young boys. It’s a taste for them. It’s a competition in which they will look at it every year and think ‘I can get a chance of getting in the first-team here’. If you look at it from the perspective of the Under-21s, they get to play with seniors so it’s a nice mixture. The closer you get to Wembley the more important it gets and it’s a good opportunity to blood the young kids.
“Everyone knows about the injuries last weekend and we’ve got the replay for Doncaster after the Blackpool game, so we’ve got three games in a week coming up. My thoughts are on preparing for all three and making sure that we give ourselves a chance of winning all three and that’s what we will be aiming to do. Will, Ryan, and Max are still out and no one has come back who missed Saturday. I’m hoping that a few more come back on Thursday or Friday to have a chance of making Blackpool, but they will not be ready for this game.”
Take a look below at Rob Cornell’s full interview with Glyn.