Cheltenham Town manager Keith Downing interviewed before the Carling Cup second round match at home to Stoke City:

"Bristol City have given us clearance to play Jennison Myrie-Williams but he has a dead leg at the moment so we're fighting against time to see whether he can start. Leicester City have said 'no' to Barry Hayles playing and he will miss out on Saturday as well because we will be playing Leicester. Jennison has ability on the ball and can create things out of nothing. He is one of the few who did reasonably well on Saturday so he is important to us if we can get him fit.

"We had a good talk at training on Monday and the players know that the performance at the weekend was unacceptable. It was very much unlike us and I'm looking for a response against Stoke City.

"It's a good fixture for us and I'm not sure if Stoke are being given enough credit at the moment. People talk about them being strong, powerful and a long ball team but Tony Pulis has done wonders there and the players all work very hard for each other. They get the ball forward quickly but with control and they don't just balloon it. They are competitive but they have some good players as well and they wouldn't be in the Premier League otherwise. It's a great game for us to come back to; and after a defeat you often want another game straight away.

"We are obviously the underdogs and if we did win it would be a major scalp. But we have worked hard to get this game and we had a great result at Southend in the last round. I want to take that on and it would be great if the local public could come out and support us as best they can because it's an opportunity to see a Premier League team here.

"We have to compete better than we did on Saturday and we have to be tighter because we were too open against Oldham as well. I want the players to be better when they've got the ball but also when we haven't got it, we have to be stronger as well.

"Craig Armstrong trained on Thursday and we're hopeful that he will be available. David Bird will not be fit and Dean Sinclair has an ankle problem as well so we'll leave it late to decide on that one. With seven substitutes there will be a chance for a couple of the younger players to gain a place in the squad as well."