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" Callum (Kennedy) is one of these players that the harder the task the better he gets. In the FA Youth Cup we went from the smaller sides and as we gradually got through to Burnley and Newcastle he got better and better and better. This will be his biggest test to date but I have got absolutely no worries about Callum Kennedy coming in there and doing a job. They boy has got a talent, he has been waiting for his chance and his chance has now arrived.
" His inclusion is probably the main reason that I have decided to go with Has (Hasney Aljofree) and Jerel (Ifil). They are the most experienced, they are what everybody would maybe look at as your number one and two. We have got two fantastic understudies who have come in and performed very, very well, but the situation we are in now, and the meetings that we have had, we have looked at the statistics that we spoke about in the week.
" I think that it is only right that the pressure should be applied to your most experienced defenders, and that is exactly why I have decided to go with these two. The contingency plan is to go and bring somebody in to galvanise the back four. These two have now got to show that they are the right people to galvanise the back four.
" Clean sheets, that is what we need and that's their job. At the end of the day that is their number one priority on Saturday, to keep a clean sheet because we will score a goal. Statistics tell us that we will score a goal, clean sheets win games for us at the moment and that is exactly what we are going for on Saturday, that is my priority for Saturday.
" Playing in midweek can play a part on the legs, especially with the conditions the way that they are at the moment. The training ground is really, really heavy so I have tried to keep it as light as possible, but obviously the training sessions are game-related to what we want to do on Saturday. So we have had to cut back the amount of time that we spend on doing it but I think that that could play a big, big part.
" So we will be aiming to set a real good tempo to the game and we will just see how long they can go with us. If we can set that tempo and take the game to them then we will get a result, but my number one priority on Saturday is a clean sheet because I believe that if we keep a clean sheet we will win the game.
" He (Anthony McNamee) is someone who I feel you have to play at home because he can change games at the flick of a switch. We are going to be going for the points this weekend and Macca will be an important part of our plans.
" It is a battle of the caretakers, (not any more - ed), so I am looking forward to seeing Abbo (Greg Abbott). He is a good friend and he is a good coach, but friendship goes out of the window at three o'clock. All that I want is three points and I don't care how we get them, we have got to go and get the three points, it is as simple as that.
Meanwhile on his own situation as caretaker manager at the County Ground Byrne commented to the Swindon Advertiser :
" I am desperate for the job, I want it and I know I can do it. Next season, if I could bring two or three players in I would not even be thinking about the play-ofs, I would want to by-pass that. That is a bold statement to make.
" Come Christmas next year, if we were not in and around the play-offs I would pack my bags and say I am not the right man for the job. I read that the board might want somebody in by the Crewe game next week, and if that's the case then so-be-it. I have just been asked to look after first team affairs until told otherwise.
" Results are the line that a manager stands on, and I am standing there at the moment. It might have been totally different if we had held on against (Bristol) Rovers and Peterborough. The next three games are crucial now. We've got to get nine points against Carlisle, Yeovil and Crewe. "
In team news for the Robins tomorrow Byrne has already said that Callum Kennedy, Hasney Aljofree, Jerel Ifil and Anthony McNamee will start for his team tomorrow. Kennedy coming in at left-back for Michael Timlin who serves a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth booking of the season at Walsall last weekend.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Tony Bates from Stoke-on-Trent, and he will be assisted down the lines by Justin Comley from Windsor in Berkshire and Gavin Muge from Tottenhoe in Bedfordshire. Meanwhile the fourth official is Roger Vaughan from Bristol.