Kevin Maher says there are places up for grabs in Bristol Rovers' starting XI - but not necessarily because of a disappointing performance against Bromley.
The Gas laboured to a 1-1 draw with the National League side in the FA Cup on Sunday, prompting a replay to be held next Tuesday.
Ahead of then, Rovers face Swindon Town in the EFL Trophy on Wednesday evening, knowing that the minimum of a bonus point draw is needed to qualify over Plymouth Argyle for the next round.
The Gas have fielded rotated sides in the Trophy this season, and Maher has indicated that younger players and those returning from injury will both get minutes on Wednesday evening.
When asked if Sunday's poor performance will give the fringe players added motivation to do well, Maher said that there are always starting positions available for in-form performers and that a bad display should make no difference to them.
"I think there's always places up for grabs," he said.
"Every time a player goes on the pitch, there's always an opportunity to stake a claim, whether that comes off a win on Sunday, a loss on Sunday or a draw on Sunday, that doesn't really matter.
"If you're playing, then it's up to your personal pride to perform. If you want to stake a claim to play in the team, then you've got to perform.
"That's football, whether you play for Bristol Rovers or one of the top, top teams in the country, that's how it is.
"Coming off whatever performance, we're in the cup and in a good position, we've got a chance to progress in this competition.
"We've got another FA Cup game next Tuesday and a chance to progress there, and we're three points off third in the league, we've only lost two games in 13.
"So there's a lot of positives there to take, we won't focus on the negatives but look what we can achieve if we apply ourselves and go and get a couple of results."
