Tony Mowbray insisted Hayden Carter and Scott Wharton will not play for Blackburn Rovers at Preston North End despite Tom Atcheson's red card.
Rovers finished the game with Sam Morsy at centre-back as they were without a senior centre-back on the bench. Carter and Wharton remain unavailable whilst Connor O'Riordan and George Pratt were sent on loan.
Atcheson will serve a one-match ban at Deepdale but that will not mean Carter or Wharton are rushed back.
"No, they're not ready to play," Mowbray insisted.
"Neither of them. They definitely will not play at the weekend. We have a duty of care to those players. We can't just throw them in because there is an emergency.
"They've got careers and they need to build up through training first and then they're potentially going to play some Under-21s games to get their bodies acclimatised back to playing competitive football.
"I would suggest we'll probably find a midfield player playing at the back. Or we decide to play the young kid (Decandia) who was sitting on the bench tonight.
"I just felt when you've got Morsy and you've got Fourshaw, you've got two really, really experienced footballers who've both played at the top level.
"I felt as if, with total respect to Lincoln, I didn't feel they were going to open us up with clever play. I felt we could get away with a midfield player playing alongside the centre-half, Sean.
"That's a totally different kettle of fish going into a game against Preston at the weekend. We'll see what we decide to do, whether we put the young kid in or whether we play a midfield player there.
"We could even play the one centre-half and play two others alongside him to keep it secure (in a back three).
"We'll work it in training and we'll come up with, hopefully, an idea of how we can go to Preston and get a positive result."
Mowbray felt Atcheson's second yellow card was harsh but did not criticise the referee. He instead insisted it will be a learning curve for the talented 19-year-old.
"I think the second yellow card is soft, to be honest," Mowbray admitted.
"He's just wrapping his leg around the back of the boy, trying to poke it as the ball came into his body. That happens every time the ball goes into a big guy up front.
"The centre-half has to wrap his leg around and try and spoil the first contact. He went over with a big scream and the referee went for his card.
"I don't think it was a bad tackle. I don't think it was pulling anybody back who was running away from him.
"I just think he was trying to spoil the initial ball into the striker. So I think it was a bit frustrating for us.
"I think Atcheson's a 19-year-old, a young boy, learning his trade. He will hopefully learn from that. I don't think the guy was born into his body.
"Sometimes if you're on a booking, just let him have it. He might have a bad touch and give it to us anyway. He'll learn as he goes along, that's fine.
"I think he's a really talented individual who's got a big, big future in front of him and yet you have to learn these lessons as you go along in life and hopefully he learns very quickly."
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