Town boss Mick McCarthy believes the Blues have a number of good youngsters making progress but says they’re not yet ready to come into the first-team on a regular basis.
The Blues manager is expecting to field a young side in this evening’s FA Cup replay at Portsmouth with full-backs Josh Emmanuel, 18, (pictured) and Myles Kenlock, 19, expected to be amongst the starters.
"I’ve been extolling the virtues of both full-backs, of Josh Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock. But they’re not better than the two lads that are in the [regular first] team,” McCarthy said.
"So even the thought of putting them in in front of Chambo or Jonas, that’s never going to happen.
"But they’ve got to be ready to play if and when they get the chance and I think they’ve both done well. I like Adam McDonnell, he’s done really well and some of the other young ones.
"Bish is still a kid and we’ve not seen him for ages, young Andre Dozzell, I think James Blanchfield is a really talented midfield player.
"I think we’ve got good talent coming through, but they are filtering through, they aren’t ready to play in the team.
"You’ve seen this league, Preston on Saturday and they matched us in everything that we did and we matched them likewise.
"But, boy, was that a tough game. They’ve got to be ready for that. It’s a bit of a shock to the system when they get thrown into it.”
Midfielder McDonnell, 18, is likely to be on the bench at Fratton Park this evening, while Blanchfield, 18, who joined Town after leaving Arsenal in the summer of 2014, and 16-year-old Dozzell featured for the U21s yesterday.
Town's U21s skipper Joe Robinson, a 20-year-old defender, also made the trip to Pompey as did Irish U18 international midfielder Shane McLoughlin, 18.
Last season another midfielder Kundai Benyu, 18, was on the bench for the derby at Carrow Road and a number of other matches, but this season his progress has been hampered by a knee injury which has meant he has featured little in the U21s let alone breaking into the senior side.
"He’s been injured,” McCarthy added. "He’s had bone bruising in his knee and he’s just been nowhere near it, which is really sad because he is a good player.
"If I consider him and Bish as two really talented, passing footballing midfield players that we’re missing, it’s a real shame, for us, for the team, for the club but for the two of them especially.”
Amongst those travelling and hoping for a place on the bench this evening is Kyle Hammond, 20, who missed much of last season with a serious knee injury but is now moving in the right direction.
"It took him a long while to get back to where he was, Kyle, but he is now,” the Town boss continued. "He’s trained with the first-team on a regular basis recently and he’s looked really good in the training sessions that we’ve had.
"He had a tough time with his injury and then he had an even tougher time with the fact that Josh [Emmanuel] had jumped above him and that really affected him. But he’s back at it now and he’s doing well.
"Young players have peaks and troughs in their development, footballers do, we’re all human beings.
"It’s impossible just to keep ploughing ahead and be at your top level, the best you can play all the time.
"I was watching the Liverpool-Manchester United game on Sunday and Wayne Rooney has been having a tough time, but then when he got that chance he nailed it because he’s quality.
"But how many games has he played? Three or four hundred or something? We all have good times and bad times, certainly footballers, and it’s how you get over them and come through them.”