‘Whoever plays knows they have a job to do’ – McAllister

The Robins host Shrewsbury Town on Saturday (12.31pm KO) and opportunities could be handed to those competing for more minutes.

But whoever is in the matchday squad against Sam Ricketts’ Shrews, McAllister says the squad is aware of their responsibility and the chance for a spot in the next round of the knockout competition.

McAllister said: “We look forward to the FA Cup game against Shrewsbury which is a chance for us to rotate the squad and get players on the pitch that haven’t played a lot of minutes, give them their opportunity and then we want to win the game, it’s the next game. We’re desperate to kick on and start a run now so we want to win on Saturday.

“It’s up to us, it’s down to us again, how we perform. The 18 that are in the squad have to produce, put in a performance to come out and get into the next round of the cup.

“That’s standard across the board, whoever plays, whoever gets a shot has a big responsibility and they’ve got to step across that white line and make sure they do work hard, they do win the tackles. They know their job roles, responsibilities and they’ll go and execute the gameplan to the best of their ability and they give everything.

“So, no matter who plays, everyone knows that and it’s important we go and set down a marker on Saturday to start getting on a winning run again. It would be great to get in that hat again. It’s a great competition so you want to be in it for as long as possible.”

Tickets are still on sale for Saturday’s lunchtime kick off, which will not be live streamed due to international broadcast rights.

Goalkeeper Max O’Leary, who is on loan with the Shrews, will not feature in the match due to the terms of his loan agreement.

Supporters are reminded that the game will kick off one minute later than a regular kick-off time in support of the mental health campaign, Heads Up.

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