FORMER Worcester City campaigner Mark Shail was one of a trio of players who were conspicuous by their absence on the team-sheet for last Saturday's 1-0 win over Scunthorpe.

The others were former Bromsgrove Rovers midfielder Paul Webb and ex-Birmingham City skipper Ian Clarkson.

None of them even made the substitutes bench to signal another wave a changing faces at Aggborough.

And it's all very much part of Kidderminster manager Jan Molby's plan to give the younger players the chance to stake their claim for regular first team action this season.

Filling the right-back spot instead of club captain Clarkson was Parfait Medou-Otye, while midfielders Daire Doyle and Dean Bennett deprived Webb of even a place on the bench.

Central defender Shail is only likely to get into the starting line-up if Adie Smith or Craig Hinton are injured while youngsters Lee Ayres and Abdou Sall are also waiting in the wings.

Boss Jan Molby explained: "Medou-Otye is now the regular right-back and I'm not really a great believer in having full-backs on the bench unless they are really versatile players who can perform in various positions.

"We put Ayres on the bench because he could, if need be, go in as a centre half and then one of the centre halves could go as a full-back. That's the reason I don't have full-backs on the bench.

"We had two subs on the bench who are midfielders in Doyle and Bennett who at the moment is ahead of Webb.

"I've had a chat with Shail and I've said to him if is there are one or two opportunities for somebody to come and play at centre half it will be the youngsters. It will be Ayres and Sall and he fully understood that.

"It might change if somebody needs to play as a centre half for 20 games because if Smith or Hinton is injured then it might be Shail.

"But for one or two games then I'm going to give the youngsters those matches to give them experience.

"Things, though, change overnight in football. Last January we put seven on the list and that didn't mean that they never played here again. That's the way football is."

Meanwhile, Smith has not resumed training yet this week because of an ankle injury.

He should, however, be available for Saturday's Division Three trip to Darlington.