Blues boss Paul Jewell says Town’s younger players such as Luke Hyam, Josh Carson, Jack Ainsley and Byron Lawrence won’t feature in tonight’s home game against Birmingham but could play in the season’s final two matches against Millwall and Doncaster.
The Town manager says that with the Midlanders in the play-off shake-up he’ll be fielding his strongest possible side this evening: "We’ve got to be fair to everyone else as well as ourselves.
"There will be some changes for Millwall and Doncaster because Millwall are safe and Doncaster are relegated.
"We will be taking those games very seriously, but there might be one or two inclusions of young players.
"Luke, Josh and Jack Ainsley, they’re all terrific pros and hopefully they can get a game before now and the end of the season.”
Lawrence spent the last two weeks with the first team squad at Playford Road and was with them once more yesterday: "He trained with us again [on Monday] morning. He’s done fine, but what you have to remember is that he’s only 16. I think he’s got a lot of attributes but we have to be careful that we don’t knock him back.
"I don’t want to say too much because he’ll probably read the papers and he’ll think he’s going to be in the team. I want to try and keep it as low key as possible if we do play him. There’s no guarantees that he’s going to play but he’s not fazed by training with the first team.”
Lawrence was previously on the bench for the Carling Cup tie against Northampton and warmed up with the senior squad before the recent home game against Leicester.
Left-back Joe Whight, 18, broke into the first team squad last season but is still to make his senior debut.
Jewell says the former Copleston High School pupil may have a chance of being involved in the final two games, although his season hasn't gone entirely to plan: "I think Joe has found it tough at times this year. We stepped him up from scholar to a pro and he’ll be better when he comes back next season. He’ll know exactly what’s expected of him.
"We’ve got high hopes for Joe but this season for different reasons he just hasn’t really got into a rhythm, which sometimes can happen with young players.
"In training and in matches for the reserves and the youth team, he just hasn’t quite lived up to his expectations, but I’m sure with a year under his belt knowing what it’s like to be a pro, he’ll be far better and we’re hoping that Joe one day will be pushing Cressy to get in the team.”
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