Everything Hartlepool United manager Paul Hartley said on Blackburn Rovers ahead Carabao Cup first round tie

Pools head to Ewood Park to take on the Championship side this evening as Paul Hartley searches for his first win in charge.

Pools were unfortunate not to claim all three points against AFC Wimbledon at the weekend as they bounced back from a disappointing start to the campaign at Walsall.

But now Pools will face their toughest challenge so far when they take on Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side.

And here is everything Pools manager Hartley had to say ahead of the trip to Lancashire.

Is this a good game to come into now?

I think so. I’m going to make changes. I need to freshen it up. This league is like that and then you get cup games in between, so you have to make your team fresh because then we’re travelling away again on Saturday to Northampton.

So for the lads who come in this week, it's up to them to impress me and say ‘look, we’re here and we’re ready if we’re not in the team.’

Can you learn anything from the pre-season game with Blackburn?

They’ve got good movement. I would think they would try and change it. I'm really excited to go there, and put yourself up against a good manager and a good team in a terrific arena.

What do you expect coming up against Blackburn?

I expect changes to both teams. Certainly we’ll change it. We’ll be freshening it up on Wednesday just because I think we’re the only team in the division who are actually playing on Wednesday, everybody else is on Tuesday.

So we’ll look to freshen the team up with players who have not played to go and impress me that have not had enough minutes.

You’re going to get lads who are disappointed because you can only start 11 players every week. So it’s an opportunity for them and I’m sure Blackburn will do the same.

How do you find having to manage players’ minutes?

It’s the nature of the game. They’re here to keep me happy, I’m not here to please them. And if they keep training well they’ll get an opportunity.

This is a tough league. It’s a long season with the cup games, so there’ll be plenty of opportunities for them and when they’re in the team they’ve got to try and stay in it.

How much are you looking forward to going to Ewood Park?

I’m really looking forward to it. I've obviously seen it on the TV plenty of times. They’re former Premiership winners under a Scottish manager. It’s a great venue for the players. It’s a great experience.

We’re playing against good opposition. We saw them in pre-season. They've got some really quality players and they play a certain way and with a certain style. It’s up to us to go there and put on a show and it’s a little bit of a free hit for us.