Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone discusses possibility of changes ahead of Anstey Nomads clash
New Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone has ruled out the possibility of making wholesale changes ahead of this weekend's visit of Northern Premier League Division One Midlands side Anstey Nomads.
Pools are set to begin their FA Trophy campaign this weekend against a Nomads side who reached the third round of the competition for the first time in their entire history after causing a considerable shock to edge past Bedford Town last month.
It's hard to avoid the sense that Saturday's game holds far more significance for Anstey, from whom a win would surely rank as among their greatest ever results, than it does for Pools.
Featherstone's side, in many ways, find themselves in a lose-lose situation; win, and it will be seen as merely what was expected of them against lower league opposition and soon forgotten about, while defeat would long be remembered as one of the club's most embarrassing moments.
Of course, Pools know all about humiliating cup exits and have been dumped out of the FA Cup by lower level opponents in all of the last three years, with painful memories of October's humbling defeat at the hands of Northern Premier League Premier Division side Gainsborough Trinity still fresh in the minds of many fans.
Featherstone, then, will need to strike a careful balance between naming a team strong enough to get past Anstey without taking too many unnecessary risks ahead of what promises to be a potentially pivotal run of National League fixtures over the festive period.
The likelihood is, therefore, that Featherstone will opt to make a handful of changes rather than wholesale ones, with the likes of Danny Johnson, desperate to end a run of 21 games without a goal, Hull loanee Pharrell Brown as well as the recently-recalled Louis Stephenson and Campbell Darcy all vying for starts on Saturday.
"There will be changes, but not wholesale changes," Featherstone told The Red Radio.
"I want to do well in this competition, I want to take this competition very seriously.
"Other than the play-off final, it's the best chance we've got of getting to Wembley.
"The club's never been to Wembley, so let's see where we can go; I want to take this competition very seriously, and that starts on Saturday."