ADAM Hinshelwood defended his decision to change a winning side with the York City manager open to giving out opportunities.
After York’s 2-0 win over Oldham Athletic over a week ago, the City boss had expressed his joy at the performance of his players, in what was an impressive performance at Boundary Park.
Therefore it was something of a surprise to see Hinshelwood opt to make three changes from that winning team, as Ricky Aguiar, Josh Stones and Billy Chadwick came in to face Boston United last Saturday.
They replaced Ashley Nathaniel-George, Dan Batty and Marvin Armstrong in the starting 11, but it was a move that failed to pay off, as Boston stormed to a 3-1 win despite a rocket from Tyrese Sinclair.
Hinshelwood explained why he opted to make those changes, with the boss still open to the idea of giving opportunities to players who have impressed him in training – using Chadwick as a recent example.
“That was the whole reason behind making the changes, they came in and had a freshness about them,” Hinshelwood told the Press.
“Batts and Marv we took off after an hour because they were looking quite leggy and tired, which is going to happen when you’re going Saturday to Tuesday at this stage of the season.
“We put them two in and even looking back now, I think with how it all transpired like that, I’d probably do the same thing.
“I’d just get the team to defend the goal a little bit better, and then I’d look like a tactical genius rather than a lot of the blame being levelled my way.
“I’ve got full belief in the squad, and you need a squad in my opinion to be up there and competing for 46 games.”
Whilst the changes forced criticism onto Hinshelwood, he admitted that he was keen to give opportunities to players who he feels have earned them.
Chadwick is one player to have impressed the boss as of late with his attitude to training and his substitute cameo against Oldham.
He added: “We’ve got to keep on working on improving, Billy Chadwick would be a fine example.
“He’s grafted, he’s worked really hard in training and I thought that you could see what I see in training in the Oldham game, when he came on.
“He rightly got a start and he did okay. He did okay, he didn’t do brilliant, he didn’t do terrible, he did okay.
“Now we want him to start games and have that same energy and the same impact [as the Oldham match].”
