AUCKLAND – Concerns over the state of a freshly-laid pitch at the venue for New Zealand’s friendly against Botswana tonight has prompted All Whites coach to adjust his tactics.

While the main focus of the match against the Zebras – New Zealand’s second of three warm-ups for the FIFA Confederations Cup – was always on giving match time to as many of the squad as possible, Herbert’s plans now won’t include the likes of Shane Smeltz or Leo Bertos.

Despite the Botswana FA round-the-clock efforts to get the pitch ready in time for the match on Sunday morning (NZT) , the surface at the University of Botswana Stadium had only just finished being re-laid before the two teams’ final training runs and concern had clouded Herbert’s thinking.

“We need the game, and our players need match time so it will still go ahead,” Herbert said but the pitch is far from ideal and certain players will not be exposed to the risk [of injury].

Herbert said Chris Killen was another who he considered withdrawing from the line-up but given a late arrival into camp limited his involvement to just 35 minutes against Tanzania, the Celtic striker would play in front of Chris James in attack.

Tony Lochhead is also likely to be rested with one of David Mulligan or Aaron Scott slotting in at left back, while in midfield Duncan Oughton and Simon Elliot should get their first starts of the tour, inside Andy Barron and Jarrod Smith.

Glen Moss will start in goal, and Andy Boyens will get the chance to stake a claim for the central defensive position left vacant by the injury-enforced withdrawal of Ryan Nelsen.

A lack of training facilities when the All Whites initially arrived on May 28 to set up camp resulted in a swift relocation to Johannesburg to train before heading off to Tanzania, and the team may now look to move to Rustenburg – where they play their first two Confederations games against Spain and South Africa – on June 8, a day earlier than scheduled.

New Zealand v Botswana

University of Botswana Football Stadium

Saturday 6 June 4pm (June 7, 2am NZT)

New Zealand (likely): 12-Glen MOSS (GK), 2-Aaron SCOTT, 4-Duncan OUGHTON, 6-Ivan VICELICH, 7-Simon ELLIOTT, 10-Chris KILLEN, 13-Andy BARRON, 16-Chris JAMES, 17-David MULLIGAN, 18-Andrew BOYENS, 22-Jarrod SMITH.

Substitutes: 1-Mark PASTON (RGK), 3-Tony LOCHHEAD, 5-Ben SIGMUND, 8-Tim BROWN (Captain), 9-Shane SMELTZ, 11-Leo BERTOS, 14-Jeremy CHRISTIE, 15-Jeremy BROCKIE, 19-Steven OLD, 20-Chris WOOD, 21-Kris BRIGHT, 23-James BANNATYNE (RGK).

Coach: Ricki HERBERT

Story and photo courtesy of NZF Media

For the latest in NZ Football news visit www.nzfootball.co.nz