YORK City manager Gary Mills has admitted he holds mixed feelings about midfielder Andre Boucaud’s failure to make the last two Trinidad & Tobago squads.
Mills shares the 27-year-old player’s disappointment at seeing his involvement in the Caribbean country’s World Cup qualifying campaign curtailed but also believes Boucaud’s previous call-up contributed to an “unsettling” week at the club back in September.
The former QPR trainee’s selection for the Soca Warriors’ internationals against Bermuda and Barbados, along with under-21 caps for Irish pair Paddy McLaughlin and Lanre Oyebanjo, meant the Minstermen postponed a league game with Bath.
Boucaud remained on the bench for both matches but, on his return following a punishing travelling schedule, Mills decided to leave the ex-Kettering playmaker out of his starting XI for the subsequent 2-1 defeat at Tamworth – a performance the City boss has labelled his team’s worst of the season.
Since then, Boucaud has been overlooked for further matches against Bermuda and Barbados, as well as the decisive clashes against Guyana.
Trinidad’s 2014 World Cup qualifying bid ended with Friday night’s 2-1 defeat in Guyana.
On the drawbacks of international football at club level, Mills said: “I’m disappointed for Andre but it is a long way for him to go and I do think the last time he was called up unsettled us.
“I had decisions to make on whether to call a game off or not and then whether to play him at Tamworth in the next game after all that travelling.
“We played poorly at Tamworth and, after more international call-ups going into our next game at Barrow, I have learned from that experience.”
Right-back Oyebanjo is a member of the Republic of Ireland U21 squad for this evening’s UEFA Championship qualifier against Liechtenstein, while Ashley Chambers will be on England ‘C’ duty in Gibraltar tomorrow night at the same time as McLaughlin is facing Serbia for Northern Ireland U21s.