Town boss Paul Lambert says his senior players are ready and raring to go against Blackpool on Saturday, despite a number of them not having played a game since the 1-0 win at Rochdale on Tuesday 5th November, two and a half weeks ago.

Since then, the likes of Luke Chambers, Luke Garbutt, Cole Skuse, Jon Nolan and Kayden Jackson have been left out of the three cup games and James Norwood has played only four minutes.

But Lambert says those players have been looking sharp in training: “Everybody seems to be on the money, and I think that’s important.

“It’s not just the lads you’ve mentioned, everybody is on the money, and they’re all ready to go again so let’s see what happens.”

He insists it’s not a concern that so many regulars have gone more than a fortnight without a competitive match.

“No, we had an in-house game during the week [on Tuesday]. You guys only get to hear what you want to hear, you only get to hear what’s going on.

"We had an in-house game here so the lads have had minutes and we’re ready for the game. It was in-house, and it was a good game.”

Did he sense the players were raring to go? “Every day I come in here those lads train the same way. They play the same way, and they train the same way.

“They’ve got a really high standard, or the standard I demand is always more or less hit, and that’s a testament to ourselves.

“If you train the way you play you’ve got a really good chance, so for me I don’t have any complaints with the training, how they go about it or how they want to do it or the intensity they train at.

“It’s the same with the in-house game and we’ll hopefully be ready for the game, you can never predict the result, but we’ll be ready for it, that’s for sure.”

Has it been a tricky week preparing one group of players for the Lincoln game and another for the Blackpool match? “You’re viewing my squad totally differently to the way that I view it. It’s not one group and another group, that’s not the case.

“I picked a team that I thought could beat Lincoln and that’s what happened. So, everybody is equally as important. We don’t have a strong one to 11, I've got a strong one to 24 guys that I can rely on and that’s the beauty of it.

“I don’t have one particular person, I’ve more or less left everybody out of the team and it will happen again, it will happen.

“I think it’s wrong [to look at it as two groups] because, in my opinion, you’re putting some guys down that you think are not my strongest.

"They are, every one of them are strong and every one of them can play a part of it and every one of them has played a part of it and the position we’re in at the minute.

“I think it’s been a bit wrong saying, one group and one group. It’s not that at all, I pick a team that I think can win a game.”

Photo: TWTD

NITFC added 11:49 - Nov 22 These days we hear the term “match fit” a lot. How can our first team players possibly be match fit for these two vital games? Since the Southend match 28 days ago, most of our players will have played just 90 minutes of football — less than 90 minutes for those that didn't play or were subbed at Rochdale Surely we should have played most of them in the cup matches? Don't get me wrong, I love what Paul Lambert has done to our club this season, but the next two games are a big test for his methods

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trulyblue added 12:30 - Nov 22 So many football managers amongst our supporters 🙄
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BurleysGloryDays added 14:02 - Nov 22 Precisely as we were saying, there is so much more going on than meets the eye. And i'm sorry, but the next three games don't determine a thing about his methods. If we lose it proves nothing at all. The end of the season is the proof. Please try to understand his job is not to manage for the next three games. It's to manage for the next 3 years.
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ivandeighton added 19:29 - Nov 22 Lamberts got it right why risk the first teamers when promotion is priority
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