Neil Miller to utilise squad as Holwell Sports return to action in the UCL Supplementary Cup

Holwell Sports will kick off their United Counties League Supplementary Cup campaign on Saturday - with boss Neil Miller making it clear his whole squad will be called upon.

Sports travel to face UCL Division One rivals Aylestone Park in this new competition, put together after the league campaign was curtailed by the Football Association.

Miller, of course, wants to be lifting a trophy come the end of May, but he is also looking at the bigger picture - keen to give all of his players minutes after the long lay-off from action, while also laying foundations for next season.

“For the lads, it gives them a chance to stretch their legs without too much pressure of thinking this is pre-season - because it’s not,” he said.

“This is all about integrating lads back into the world again and back onto a football pitch.

“We are competitive and we want to be successful in this, but what we all need to make sure is that every single player gets minutes.

“I’m not using this competition to just take my 14 strongest lads, this is not what this is about.

“The last couple of games of pre-season? Absolutely, yes.

“But leaving them at home or putting them on the bench is not what this is about for me.

“This is all about getting ready for August.”

Sports travel to Aylestone Park on Saturday before hosting St Andrews the following Saturday.

“We’re delighted to be starting again and looking forward to Saturday, which will be a really tough start,” Miller added.

“They were firing on all cylinders before the league was curtailed.”

While there remains question marks as to whether fans can attend games from next Monday, Miller believes that entering the Supplementary Cup was a ‘no-brainer’.

“I think first and foremost, everybody was eager to get going,” he said.

“We’ve been in this unprecedented time and when football gets curtailed, as happened, you realise how much you miss it. It was a no brainer for us.

“Even if we’re not allowed fans in, our players want to play football - so we’d have to look for games anyway.”