Barry Cotter and Tawanda Chirewa were on target as a very young U23s side beat Cardiff City 2-1 in a behind-closed-doors game at Playford Road this afternoon.
The Welshmen took the lead after three minutes but Cotter levelled five minutes later with a shot from inside the box.
Two minutes into the second half, Chirewa (pictured), who made his senior debut for the Blues as a 16-year-old schoolboy in the EFL Trophy tie at Colchester last season, gave Town the lead when he shot into the top corner having been played in behind the visitors’ backline.
Missing from the last U23s team - and presumably therefore involved in some capacity in tonight’s EFL Trophy tie against Gillingham at Portman Road - were the likes of left-back Tommy Smith, centre-half Elkan Baggott, midfielders Liam Gibbs, Allan Viral and Ross Crane and strikers Ben Folami (pictured), Zak Brown and Tyreece Simpson.
Central defender Corrie Ndaba, who missed the last U23s game due to injury, and midfielder Brett McGavin were also not named in this afternoon’s XI, which was largely the U18s team.
The trialist may well have been Jesse Nwabueze, who has been with the club since pre-season and netted a penalty in the recent 3-2 friendly victory over Norwich City. The Nigerian wideman was previously at Crystal Palace.
U23s: White, O’Reilly (Wyss), Humphreys, Healy, Stewart (Kabongolo), Armin, Cotter, Cutbush, Trialist, Chiwera, Osbourne (Alexander). Unused: Ridd, Bareck.