Town striker Freddie Sears knows a thing or two about breaking into senior football at an early age, making his debut for first club West Ham almost a decade ago when he was 18.

Sears scored the winning goal in the Hammers’ 2-1 home win over Blackburn in March 2008 (below), netting just over five minutes into the first of his seven appearances for Alan Curbishley’s side that season.

So he can quite easily put himself in the shoes of the many Town youngsters who enhanced their reputations in Tuesday’s narrow 2-1 defeat to a strong, experienced Crystal Palace side in a Carabao Cup second round clash at Selhurst Park.

Sears said: “I’ve been there and done it. I’ve been in their shoes and it’s good to see. When it happened to me it was great and you get a feel for it. I was travelling all over the country and I was living the life of a pro footballer, playing for the club I followed.

“The fans, the atmosphere, it’s real men’s football and you want more and more of it. The gaffer will keep everyone grounded here and they’re a good bunch of lads anyway.

“I don’t think there will be problems with it going to their heads or stuff like that, but if it does the rest of the boys will soon bring them back down to earth.”

The fact that so many youngsters are on the brink of Town’s first team squad has not surprised Sears, who added: “We’ve obviously seen it day in, day out, in training. From the start of pre-season there have been a few, including Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam, who have really impressed.

“We sort of knew about them from the latter part of last season but they have really returned and hit the ground running. I wasn’t at the game the other night but I have heard a lot of good reports and the manager seems happy. By all accounts they put on a really good performance, for themselves as well as the club, against Palace.

“It maybe helped them out a little bit that they all played together, meaning they all had plenty of familiar faces around. But going away to a Premier League side — even if Palace didn’t field their full-strength side they still included a lot of experienced players — and getting the result they did was some achievement.

“Yes, they lost, but before the game — and no disrespect to the boys — you probably would have been thinking they might concede five or six goals.

“I was sitting at home and after 75 minutes it was still 0-0 — I was thinking ‘Bloody hell, we’ve got a chance and might go through’. I was delighted for them and it shows we have a lot of top talent coming through the ranks at the minute.

“But football is full of highs and lows. There has to be a lot of commitment and hard work in training every day. Sometimes you won’t be playing at your best but you still have to keep going.

“They’re probably not all going to be playing in the first team all the time either. In my case I went down to Colchester and I had to prove myself all over again. That might be the same for some of the boys, having to drop down to come back up again at a later date.

“I’m only 27 myself but when I’m around these boys I feel a lot older. I’m nearly 10 years older than some of them. They listen to the older players and it’s not as if they are coming up to us every 10 minutes or so with questions.

“But they know we’re here for them if they need advice or need telling. The skipper, Chambo, is probably the best for that role if the young lads have problems or need help. If that’s the case he normally sorts it out. It’s a really good club here and the young lads know they can speak to any of us whenever they want.

“Tuesday’s experience is bound to make them want more of the same. I’m hearing reports that every single one of them did well and played their part, and that there were no passengers.

“It gives the manager more options, I suppose, because he knows he can trust these boys. I think U23 football can sometimes be a bit too easy for them so it was nice for them to be tested outside their comfort zone. It is only going to help them.

“It won’t be a problem keeping their feet on the ground. I don’t think the gaffer will allow it to be any other way. They are a good group of boys and because most of them are local they love the club and want to play for it. They’ve got half a chance.”

Photo: TWTD

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