Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon feels that giving game time to members of his squad was the priority, as they were beaten 2-0 by Salford City in the Leasing.com Trophy at Prenton Park.
Goals from Oscar Threlkeld and Liam Hogan saw Graham Alexander’s Ammies finish winners of Group C, with Tranmere runners-up as both teams progressed to the knockout stages.
And the boss stressed that he felt it was important for some of his side to get valuable minutes of action under their belts, ahead of a busy period of fixtures.
Mellon said: “It was important that we got the opportunity to give people a go. We had the opportunity to give people 90 minutes under their belt which they needed, and in terms of positives, we gave people good time who needed time.
“The performance wasn’t good enough. We didn’t get going, but it is more to do with people who need match time, it is a group of players who we looked at and thought that they could do with time tonight.
“We’ve got to get ourselves ready for a busy period and we wanted to get as many people as much match fitness as possible, and that was the positives from it.
“The performance isn’t what we would accept at any time, we wanted to give people minutes. Borthwick-Jackson needed 90 minutes, George Ray needed 90 minutes, you’ve got Connor Jennings playing in centre midfield with Potter, and he’s never played there.
“We wanted to try and get Corey Blackett-Taylor 90 minutes and as much out of Ferrier as we possibly could, we wanted to give Maddox some time, so that’s what it was about.”
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