Manager Ian Evatt is set to make changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s FA Trophy tie at Atherton Collieries and he believes his squad members’ performances are pressing his first-choice players into playing well.

Evatt has always maintained everyone in his squad will get the chance to impress in the Bluebirds’ season, but the likes of Jack Hindle, Oliver Greaves and Morgan Penfold have had to wait due to the form of Scott Quigley, John Rooney and Josh Kay.

Their opportunity will come against the team from the Northern Premier League at the weekend, which could give Evatt food for thought ahead of AFC’s hectic Christmas schedule.

With the 38-year-old making it clear that he won’t be using the FA Trophy as a makeweight this season, that should be enough to spur some of the so-called fringe players into pressing their case as to why they should be playing more regularly.

Evatt said: “There is pressure on them (the starting line-up), they know that and that’s why people are performing so well because we’ve not just got 11 very good players, but players in every position who can come in and take their places, so they need to be at the races every week.

“If not, they’ll quickly get their place taken and the lads will back themselves, once they get in the team, to perform well and keep that place.

“We were missing Jason [Taylor] with flu last Saturday, we’ve got Connor, who didn’t play, we’ve got Josh Granite, who’s doing well in returning to fitness, Greavesie, Morgan Penfold, Jack and Byron [Harrison].

“They’re all very good players in their own right, so we’ll have to see on Saturday who we select and if they can perform to the levels the others have been performing they can give us a bit of a headache ahead of the Christmas period.”

Due to the amount of chances missed in last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Aldershot Town, and even in the 4-0 trouncing of Maidenhead the previous week, there is still scope for AFC to improve.

That is quite a statement to make, given they are three points clear at the top of the National League and top scorers in the division, having won 13 of their last 15 games in English football’s fifth tier.

However, Evatt said: “We’re not the finished article - we’re doing very well, but we’ve lots of improvements to come.

“We need to keep out heads down, keep working real hard on the training ground and try and improve the areas where we’re not being quite as clinical in the final third at the moment. Hopefully, if we can do that, there are hatfuls of goals left in this team.”