Martin Ling has hinted at making changes to the team that lost 1-0 at home to Crawley on Tuesday.

Tomorrow's hosts Tamworth are currently 12th in the table with five points from three games, while United are tenth with six points from four games.

It's a quick return to action for both teams, with United looking to bounce back from Tuesday's defeat while the unbeaten Lambs drew 1-1 at Gateshead on the same night. The odds have United as 5/4 favourites with our online betting partners bet365 to win the match, while Tamworth are 15/8 and the draw is 23/10. Click here for all the match odds.

Team News

Having kept faith with the side that won the previous two games, Ling was disappointed at some of the individual performances on Tuesday.

He has since signed defender Brian Saah and striker Danny Crow is pushing for a start after returning from injury, while left back Anthony Tonkin played the last ten minutes on Tuesday to continue his comeback from a pre-season groin injury.

"I've always spoken openly and honestly after games and I said on Tuesday night I didn't think it was good enough," he said. "You need seven or eight players on good form to win a game and they can carry the other two or three, but we didn't have that on Tuesday and I'll tell it as I see it.

"If it's right I'll make changes," he added. "I kept the team that had won two games but they didn't do well enough on Tuesday to be sure of their places."

Tonkin and Crow are clearly in his thoughts for tomorrow's game, and he added, "Normally you'd give Tonkin and Crow a reserve game but that's not possible to do here, but they've been in training for more than a week now and if I think they're ready they have a chance of starting."

Lee Phillips is also due to train today as he edges towards a return from a medial ligament, and Ling revealed that the centre-forward could also be on the fringes of the squad by next weekend.

"Everyone trained yesterday apart from Lee Phillips and Adam Marriott, but Phillips is going to join in a bit of training today. It's a bit early to expect him to be involved on Saturday but maybe next weekend after a full week's training, which will be another plus to the squad.

"He gives us a physical presence up front and I think you need four or five forwards to be successful."

Brian Saah is fully fit after spending pre-season training and playing trial games for Southend and Tranmere and he may make his debut at Tamworth, but Ling warned that he is unlikely to make any further additions to the squad unless players leave first: "We'd have to shuffle the pack in terms of moving people out in the long run to bring people in, because there's nothing else in the budget to bring people in.

"All managers like to bring people in but I knew the budget from the start and I'm contented with the squad as it is at the moment."

The Opposition

Tamworth won promotion back to the Blue Square Premier at the end of last season and are currently unbeaten after three games, with an opening day 1-1 draw at Stevenage Borough followed by a 2-1 win at home to Grays and Tuesday's 1-1 draw at fellow BSP new boys Gateshead.

The Lambs squad includes 30-year-old former U's striker Trevor Benjamin, who left the Abbey for Leicester City in a £1.5million move in July 2000 after coming through the youth system at United and scoring 35 Football League goals.

As on Tuesday, Ling admitted that he has yet to gain full knowledge of tomorrow's opponents, but he expects a hard game against the confident and in-form Lambs.

"I can't claim to be an expert but they came up from the Conference North last season and we've had them watched this season. We know they're a very confident, passing team and they're still unbeaten, but it's mainly about how we perform.

"If we perform like we did at Chester, apart from the first 20 minutes, I think we'll win the game. But if we perform like against Crawley then we'll struggle. It's down to us - if we put our best foot forward we'll be difficult to beat."

More information

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