Ian Holloway explained his decision to start Billy Kirkman on the left wing during Swindon Town’s 4-0 defeat to York City.
There was plenty of surprise when the Swindon team sheet arrived at 1.45 pm on Saturday, as Dan Butler and Kirkman were both listed alongside two other centre-backs.
As it transpired, Holloway had decided to use Kirkman in his front three alongside Aaron Drinan and Joe Snowdon, ahead of the wealth of attacking options that he has in his squad.
Having started at centre-back against Colchester United, it was a decision that most did not see coming, although it nearly brought early dividends as the 22-year-old twice got in down the side after being played in by Ben Middlemas, and can count himself unlucky that nobody put home his balls into the middle.
But after a promising start, the match unravelled and Kirkman was replaced in the first half by Joseph Hungbo, although this ultimately had no impact on the outcome.
After the match, Holloway was asked why he had decided to use his regular left-back in his front three at the LNER Community Stadium.
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He said: “No, it was a decision that I wanted to have more runners.
“I didn't want to be so wide open because of the last game, and I wanted Billy to do that front role for me, and we won it back three or four times with him doing that exactly that. But is it enough to have just Drinan to finish things off?”
The decision caused particular consternation among the fans, as Hungbo, Antwoine Hackford, Paul Glatzel, and Danny Butterworth were all on the bench who could have been used in the front three ahead of a regular defender.
Butterworth is still several weeks away from being ready for competitive action, and Glatzel is being managed after just returning from a nagging hamstring issue.
Hackford could have started the game, as he did last week, but the decision was taken that he is not yet fully up to speed with what is required from him in this system.
Hungbo had played a cumulative 97 minutes prior to the game against York across three appearances, and was not involved in any of Wigan Athletic’s pre-season friendlies as he was out of favour there.
He said: “Not starting Hungbo is because of minutes. He's still got to play. Hopefully, we can get him into to some on Tuesday.”
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