Is it worth it cup?

United travel to Ashton Gate for their first round Worthington Cup tie tomorrow evening. Bristol City have a 100% record at home and have yet to concede a goal there, whilst United's away record is, er, not quite so good. There are no replays in this increasingly irrelevant tournament, so if the scores are level after 90 minutes there will be extra time followed by penalties, although the likelihood of it going that far is remote.

United's starting eleven is pretty much up for grabs, especially if Ian Atkins uses this tie as an opportunity to give a game to some of the so-called fringe players, such as Ian McCaldon, Chris Hackett, Sam Ricketts and, who knows, maybe even Jefferson Louis and Carlin Itonga. The one certainty is that there are no certainties, especially following Atkins' comments after the Torquay game where he slagged off the attitudes of some, unnamed, players and also strongly hinted that he might revert to using three centre-halves.

Of course, it may be that those Robins decide to experiment and give a few reserves a run out, in which case it may be more of a level playing field than anticipated. Nevertheless, we'd be telling porkies if we suggested that we thought the final result will be anything other than 3-0 to the home side.