Lowestoft Town boss happy to mix and match

Lowestoft Town director of football Craig Fleming is happy to play the part of the tinkerman this season, as the Blues prepare to welcome Concord Rangers to Crown Meadow this afternoon, kick-off 3pm.

After the convincing win at Margate last weekend, the Town management team made five changes to the starting XI for the visit of AFC Hornchurch on Monday and still managed to grind out a 2-1 win to lift the Blues up to second place in the embryonic Ryman League Premier table.

Fleming is planning to make several changes to his starting line-up again today to ensure his squad remain as fresh as possible for the long season ahead.

'It's something that we have spoken about,' he said. 'We feel that maybe last season we could have mixed it up a bit more to keep everyone fresh and that's what we did against Hornchurch.

'The lads that came in did well although we really had to grind out the result. We're not carrying huge numbers in the squad but the players we do have are all capable of coming in a doing a job.'

Makeshift centre-half Scott Mitchell is likely to fill in at the heart of the defence again alongside Sam Gaughran with Greg Crane starting a two-match suspension for his red card against Lewes on the opening day.

Fleming has been delighted with how the midfielder has adapted. 'He has done an incredible job for us but he is just one of those players wherever you put him on the pitch he will do a job for you – he is a natural footballer.'

Lowestoft have no new injury worries although the match comes too soon for Dale Cockrill, who hopes to start training again next week following a knee injury.