Town’s U21s were beaten 5-3 at Watford this afternoon, despite having been 3-0 up at half-time and the Hornets having been reduced to 10 men, while missing a second-half penalty.
Tommy Taylor (pictured) netted on six, his third in three games, then Jesse Nwabueze made it 2-0 on 35, before Leon Ayinde gave the Blues a 3-0 half-time lead in the final minute before the break.
However, the home side netted five times in the first half-hour of the second half, on 49, 50, 63, 68 and 75.
Town had a golden chance to pull a goal back when they were awarded a penalty after Aiden Coyne felled Osman Foyo which saw the Hornets reduced to 10 men, but centre-half Jakob Mazionis’s kick was saved.
The Blues again fielded trialist keeper Solomon Honor, who impressed in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Bristol City at Playford Road. The 17-year-old is currently with Blackburn Rovers having previously been in Manchester City’s youth set-up.
One man who wasn’t involved was Cameron Humphreys, who had started the previous two U21s matches.
"It's important to get games," manager Kieran McKenna said of the 20-year-old.
"Of course, he's been in lots of matchday squads and is training well and having a season with picking up good experience being around the top end of the Championship.
"But it's important to get match minutes as well, so he got 90 minutes during the week.
"We'll have a we'll have a match of some description next week for those who need and would benefit most from the minutes, and Cameron will certainly come into that thinking as well.”
U21s: Honor, Agbaje, H Barbrook, Mazionis, O’Connor, Okunowo, Nwabueze, Foyo, Taylor, Morgan, Ayinde. Subs: Babb, Binns, Turner, Ward, Roberts.