MALVERN Town co-manager Lee Hooper has indicated that there are still places left to fight for as his side prepare for their fourth round Buildbase FA Vase tie at Congleton Town this Saturday.

Hooper admits he and fellow manager Dene Whittal-Williams could be swayed slightly based on the opposition, despite not having much to go on.

“There are certainly places up for grabs,” said Hooper.

“We definitely haven’t decided our starting eleven.

“We have a little bit of information on Congleton from the small snippets we have seen and if it is what we are expecting then we do have a little bit of a game plan and personnel might be picked on that basis.”

Town have played two warm-up matches in recent weeks, beating Lydney Town 5-1 and securing a very encouraging 0-0 draw with Alvechurch, who play at Step 3 of the non-league ladder.

Hooper says certain players have really put their hand up for a place.

“There are some lads who have done well since we’ve come back, Nathan Chowns-Higgs scored a hat-trick against Lydney and has done very well but he’s still very young and a lot to learn.

“We kept a clean sheet against Alvechurch (last weekend) who are in Step 3 so there are positives to take from those friendlies and we have tried to share minutes out evenly.”

“Of course we’ve got a starting eleven in mind but it is not in concrete yet so there are places to be had.

“We still have two training sessions this week and you never know, you can pick up injuries but fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.”

The game with Congleton is scheduled for a 3pm kick-off up in Cheshire on Saturday but due to the funeral of Prince Phillip taking place at the same time, the FA have recommended that kick-off times are rearranged outside of the 14:45-16:15pm window.

Both sides will be able to pick a time that best suits both clubs and you would think that, given the distance The Hillsiders have to travel, a later time would be a more suitable time to play the fixture.