Blues boss Paul Hurst, whose squad is travelling to Swansea for Saturday’s match this afternoon, says Andre Dozzell came through his first 14 minutes for the first team in more than a year without a problem having come on as a sub on Tuesday, but that Myles Kenlock remains on the sidelines with his ankle injury.
Dozzell, 19, finally made his return to senior competitive action against Middlesbrough having suffered a ruptured cruciate knee ligament on the opening day of last season.
Asked how the England U19 international came through the match, Hurst said: "Good, he’s been training this morning, no ill effects to my knowledge, so that’s good.
"A little chat we had coming off the pitch was that it must have been good to get back out there in front of a crowd in a competitive Championship game, so hopefully he can build on that.”
Is the midfielder ready to start against the Swans on Saturday? "We’ll see. As I’ve said, I don’t think he would go for 90 minutes, that’s my honest view. He may surprise you but that would be my view, so we’ve got to consider that.
"But ultimately we need a result and I’ve got to pick which team I think is best to get that.”
Hurst says he’s keen to include youngsters in his teams, however at the right time and not en masse.
"I think there have been a few,” he reflected. "I think if you compare that to last season, circumstances dictated when some of those lads did play and I think that in turn has given some people the wrong idea either where they’re at or expectations about what these players can do at this moment in time.
"You have to be careful, I had a conversation with someone here, they said it would almost be good if you played the youth team [who are currently top of their league]. The youth team wouldn’t win a game of football [at this level].
"There are the baby-ish arguments that we haven’t won a game of football yet either, which we know, but at the same time let’s be realistic about it.
"I’m all for young players playing if it’s the right time for them and I think that they can make a difference for us.”
Many fans were impressed with the performances of Dozzell, Tristan Nydam, who is now on loan at St Johnstone, and Flynn Downes during the West Ham friendly but Hurst didn’t believe they were the right trio to start the season proper the following week against Blackburn.
"That seems a long time ago,” he said a touch ruefully. "I don’t think personally that would be the right midfield to start.
"There are always counterarguments and ways of looking at it but the situation we’re in, do you want too many young lads out there? They might play with that freedom, but it might be too much.
"I’ve personally seen one or two things where I think it’s been difficult for one or two of the younger players, but at the same time I’m going to pick a team that I think is right on the day. And if that includes young lads then hopefully they can rise to that challenge.”
Hurst was also pleased with Freddie Sears’s contribution from the bench against Boro: "He was lively. I thought he did pretty well when he came on at the weekend against Birmingham as well, so he’s clearly going to come into my thoughts.
"He used his experience, his knowledge of the game to try and cause the Middlesbrough lads a different problem.
"It’s pretty obvious he’s not going to out-fight people and things like that. Nothing wrong with admitting that and understanding where your strengths lie and I think he played in that second half fully aware of that and picked up some nice areas for us.”
Looking ahead to Saturday, he says Myles Kenlock remains out, along with longer-term absentees Ellis Harrison (ankle), Jon Walters (achilles), Emyr Huws (knee), Teddy Bishop (hamstring) and Tom Adeyemi (achilles), but that there are no new injury concerns, while Matthew Pennington is back from his one-match ban.
"No, I think we’re alright on that,” he said. "The only one who’s trained today to a degree but is not right, I’ve just had a conversation with him quickly just then, is Myles, who I can tell is still feeling that ankle. Credit to him for giving it a go but he’s not quite right just yet.”
Asked why the squad is travelling today rather than on Friday as is usually the case for away games, Hurst said: "I think it’s far too long a journey for the players. Nothing guarantees you anything but you want to try and give yourself the best chance.
"We looked into flying but that was something we couldn’t do. The trains worked out too long so we’re setting off today and are training down there tomorrow. We feel that’s the best option available to us.
"It’s about trying to do the right things. Again, it doesn’t guarantee you anything but I’d rather it be that way than start questioning the preparation and people thinking that we’re not at least trying to do things properly.”
Did owner Marcus Evans take any persuading to pay for the squad to stay for the additional day? "Not to my knowledge.”
Meanwhile, Hurst says there’s no news on the prospect of the Blues signing a free agent striker. Asked whether there were any developments on that front, the Town boss responded simply: "No.”