Town boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with his second string side, despite their Capital One Cup third round tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford ending in a 3-0 defeat.
"Man United deserved to win, they dominated the first half,” McCarthy admitted. "Second half we started well, had our chances, didn’t score them. We gave a freekick away, cost us the second and it was probably a done deal then.”
But despite the result, he was pleased with his team, an entirely different XI to the one which drew with Birmingham on Friday including the likes of Jonny Parr and Kevin Bru on the way back from injury, recent signings Tommy Oar and Piotr Malarczyk, who are short of match fitness, and youngsters Josh Emmanuel and Josh Yorwerth.
"I’m delighted with them,” he continued. "It’s difficult when you come in and you’ve lost 3-0 and you’re saying ‘Well done lads, I’m pleased with you’.
"We’ve got Jonny Parr back playing, which I’m delighted with. All the back four, Josh Emmanuel, it’s a helluva learning curve for him.
"Kevin Bru’s back playing having missed a lot through injury. I thought Tommy Oar really did well in the game. So there were some real good pluses but we were beaten.
"I could have put any team out against that team and we’d probably still have been beaten. The bookies wouldn’t have been giving too many good odds on us whatever team we were playing.”
He says he was always going to stick with the players who had featured in the victories over Stevenage and Doncaster in the previous rounds.
"I said at Doncaster that I’d play the same team and then we were drawn with Manchester United and I said I might have to rethink it,” he added. "But that was never going to be the case, I was always going to play the same lads.
"I had to show faith in them as well, so when I do want them to play in the league that I’m not worried about playing them. I hope they get that feeling from that game.”
The Blues boss says he expected Louis van Gaal to pick a strong United team: "I didn’t expect him to tinker with it. They lost at the MK Dons last year through doing that. I think they need to win a trophy.
"I’d imagine a home tie against Ipswich, he wouldn’t want to see an upset to he made sure with a strong team.”
McCarthy says the performance and cup run has reinforced his view that he has strength in depth: "I know looking at them there are players I can play without any reservations at all.
"I knew that anyway but it’s added a few to it and I’m comfortable int he knowledge that I’ve got a strong squad going forward with the league games coming up.”
He says the likes of Oar and Malarczyk needed to play a match to get nearer to match fitness: "When do they get that game otherwise? I know it’s a big game and I know we’ve had loads of fans and they were brilliant and they were still brilliant at the end.
"I thought they saw a really good, spirited second half performance. But I’ve been to places like Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool with my best, full strength team and had a doing. I wanted to stick with the lads who got us here and they deserved to play.”
Regarding debutant Oar’s performance, he added: "Tommy’s only had one full competitive game since March and for him to come in and play at Old Trafford in the way he has done I’m really pleased with him, and his delivery from freekicks was excellent.
"We’ve got two outstanding wingers playing in the team, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Ryan Fraser, but neither of them are ours. So, I have got one and I’ve got high hopes for him. I’m delighted with him.”
Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal said: "The result was great. We don’t have injuries. I brought in players, I rotated players. Phil Jones has played a lot of minutes. So I’m a happy coach."