SAM Allardyce has defended his decision to field a virtual reserve side in the FA Cup against Sunderland at the Reebok on Saturday.

Only 10,000 fans turned up to watch the 1-1 draw which has left both relegation-threatened teams facing a replay at the Stadium of Light a week tomorrow.

But Allardyce insisted his team choice - NINE changes from the side which lost at Villa Park on New Year's Day - had been decided by the debilitating effects of four hard-fought games over the festive period.

Allardyce commented: "The players I left out were not physically capable of playing today, and some are mentally tired as well.

"I have probably the oldest squad in the Premiership and the players I left out such as Gudni Bergsson, Per Frandsen, Simon Charlton and Mike Whitlow are all in their thirties.

"All the players I left out had done four games on the trot and could not have reached their top level.

"I have young, fresh-faced boys who, if nothing else, can run around all day. These are players who want to be in the side but need to gain the experience, so they got that on Saturday.

"The younger end - Jeff Smith, Danny Livesey and Nicky Hunt - showed they could stand up to a game of this size with the competitive edge."

Although he felt Wanderers had done enough to win the game, Allardyce was not overly worried by the number of chances missed.

Both Michael Ricketts and Delroy Facey had a number of opportunities to extend the lead, however Allardyce was just pleased they got in scoring situations.

He said: "I put Michael in because he did not actually play that much over Christmas, and he is now in a good vein of goalscoring form so I wanted to keep that going.

"He should be pleased with the amount of chances he got into and created, and he could have had a hat-trick.

"Delroy Facey did well also and was maybe unfortunate to not get among the goals, he worked very hard around Michael.

"We may not have been a fluent football team but we created chance after chance. We did enough to bury the game and because we did not do that we paid the ultimate price.

"The game should have been over by half-time but with Kevin Phillips on the pitch there is always that danger if you do not put chances away."

"If you had asked me if I fancied a trip to the Stadium of Light next week, I would have said 'no'. But at the end of this game I feel this result was the second best thing.

"I would have hated to have lost this game because of what we did and the players that did so much. They did really well and it would have been a crime if they had lost.

"It might give some of them another opportunity up there, but it may also give a run-out for the likes of Bruno N'Gotty, Paul Warhurst, Bernard Mendy and Youri Djorkaeff, who are all very close to fitness now.

"In 10 days time that would be a great match to put those players in and gain match sharpness for the Premiership.

"Hopefully we can also get a result to get in the next round."