Bluebirds boss Brian Barry-Murphy spoke to the press after City’s defeat to AFC Wimbledon in the Vertu Trophy.
“A lot of the players will have never experienced playing against players of this nature, in terms of playing senior football before." Brian began. "Until they’re exposed to that, you can never learn from it. So, the players will have had what they feel is a difficult experience, but in the long term will be beneficial for them.
“We know that Wimbledon have no game on Saturday so that was a full-strength team from league action, so the level of challenge was very high for the young players, who struggled to compete with the physicality the opponent showed through the course of the game. In terms of our players, I couldn’t be happier with their attitude, their spirit, because it’s not easy when you lose by such a heavy scoreline.
"You saw all of the different players we have from our Academy, and it’ll be an invaluable experience for all of those young players moving forward. We believe fully in our Academy, we’ve seen the fruits of what that’s done for us this season in terms of the players that have played at a First Team level."
As has been the case in previous rounds, Brian selected a youthful side for tonight's cup clash, as 14 players produced by the club’s Academy were either named in the starting XI or featured off the bench.
Brian continued: “I think it’s clear that you can see the traits that we want these young players to be associated with, in terms of how they play the game. The important qualities are to try to be as aggressive as possible and display the skill that we see from those at First Team level who have gone before them.
"Tonight was my first real sight of Noah [Williams] who made his debut, who came on and looked very assured. Axel [Donczew] came on and you saw the style of play that he displayed, so it’s an exciting time for the future, and when the time comes for them, they’ll possess the ability that’s there for all to see.
Tonight’s fixture also saw Joel Colwill captain the Bluebirds for the first time.
“I was really pleased with Joel, who obviously had a bad knee injury at Northampton. Part of the reason for his selection was to get him as fit as we want based on how important he is to us, so it was beneficial for us to get 90 minutes out of Joel. I thought he supported the young players very well in the most difficult moments of the game.”