John Lloyd has shrugged off Andy Murray's absence from GB's Davis Cup tie against Ukraine.
Murray's absence leaves inexperienced Davis Cup line-up in Glasgow
Great Britain's Davis Cup captain John Lloyd has shrugged off the absence of Andy Murray for the Euro/Africa Zone tie against Ukraine.
Murray, the world number four, withdrew due to a virus, leaving Lloyd to field an inexperienced quartet at Glasgow's Braehead Arena from March 6-8.
Of the five players in the squad, only one has previously played a Davis Cup rubber - doubles specialist Ross Hutchins - and he has two defeats from two matches.
Josh Goodall, Chris Eaton, James Ward and Colin Fleming are the other players in contention - with Goodall, the world number 196, the highest ranked of the quintet.
But Lloyd, who will tell his players the final four-man line-up on Wednesday evening, insists a spirit was fostered during his new play-off system last week which can inspire the team to victory.
"Attitude has been as good as any team that I've been involved with, both coaching and being captain," said Lloyd, who devised play-offs to decide spots on the team after becoming fed up with persistent underachievement.
"Obviously, we've got a lot of rookies at the table, so to speak.
Exceptional maturity
"But I don't feel they are rookies in terms of their maturity, which I think has been exceptional.
"The bonding at Roehampton last week was a big help.
"No team obviously wants to be without their number one player but the guys were just very much 'Business as usual now'.
"It gives other players an opportunity to make the team and play singles and doubles, and they've just taken it on board.
"I couldn't have asked for more to be honest."
Lloyd was keen to point out Ukraine's highest ranked player, Sergiy Stakhovsky, is only 125th in the world and his own men actually boast encouraging head-to-head records against their rivals.
He added: "We're playing a good team but other than Stakhovsky, who's obviously ranked pretty high but not a top-10 player, they're players that all our guys are comfortable playing and have beaten sometimes.
"So it's not like we're going up against this unbeatable team."
Box office
As well as being by far Britain's best player, Dunblane-born Murray will also have been the main draw for fans when buying tickets.
But Lloyd does not believe supporters will desert the team as a result of his absence.
"It would have been very special for him to have been here for the crowd and for everybody else," he reckoned.
"The bottom line is it's a Davis Cup match and I think the crowd will really get behind the team we've got.
"In terms of experience, we're at the low end and I think that will encourage them even more.
"The crowd support we always love, but in this case it would be great to have some good help out there and I think we'll get that."
