Clarets boss to split squad for friendlies

Boss Sean Dyche will split his squad to field two strong sides at both Alfreton Town and Kidderminster Harriers, with Dyche expected to be in the dugout at the former.Both games kick-off at 3 p.m., with Dyche looking to get 90 minutes into several of his players after a tough week's training, following their camp in Ireland last week, and the 4-0 win at Shamrock Rovers.

Dyche said: “We will break the group up to the two different games and we will be looking for more game-time for them.

“We recognise our main first-team squad. A few of the younger players will travel with us, but we are looking to get good minutes into the first-team players.

“What you always search for is to get minutes into the players.

“In most sports you can train for it, but the actual event is always the main thing, and that has a slightly different effect on the body and the mind, so you can never quite replace games.

“We just thought this year we would split the groups and try and get more minutes in one go, rather than that idea of 45s and 60s etc, which we normally do with a split where one group will start one game and the opposite group will start the next.

“This time we decided to get the 45 minutes into them in Dublin and then get back and split the group.

“Not all will get a total game but there will be a lot on Saturday – as long as it goes well – will get a 90 minutes.”