Town chairman David Sheepshanks has hailed the strides made by the club's Academy over recent years. This season has seen Darren Bent emerge on the scene while the Academy U19s has several other players who look set to break through in the coming years.

The Town chairman told the club site: "The Academy is a long term investment and is now in its fourth year. Nationally it is one of the best so we have to be happy with the progress we have made.

"The young players are starting to come through and we now have a crop of them breaking into the reserve team.

"It's still a big jump from that level into the first team but the signs are looking good."

Yesterday TWTD columnist John Wark cited Darren Ambrose as the next of Darren Bent's team-mates to break into the first team. Ambrose, along with the likes of Lee Beevers, Matt Bloomfield, U17 Matt Richards and others, has become a regular at reserve level this season.

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