Blues boss Kieran McKenna was pleased with young midfield duo Cameron Humphreys and Fin Barbrook, despite Town’s on-penalties Carabao Cup first round defeat at Bromley.

McKenna’s side were beaten 5-4 in the shootout by the League Two club following a 1-1 draw.

Humphreys, 21, was making his first start for the Blues since the FA Cup tie with Maidstone in January 2024, while Barbrook, 20, was making his competitive debut for the Blues having come through the academy.

“They did well, they continued how they’ve been all summer, really,” McKenna said. “They did well in pre-season, Fin especially probably stepping up for his first regular spell with the first team and in a position with a lot of responsibility where we’re really short at the moment, and he’s taken his chances well.

“And Cameron, we know what to expect, but still for a young player, he still continues to impose himself well.”

Could Humphreys play a big part in the season ahead? “He can. I’ve got full belief in him that when the opportunities are there, he’ll be ready to take them. He did well in the few minutes he got on the pitch on Friday night [at Birmingham].

“At the same time, to be the dominant team in the division, or one of the dominant teams in the division, then we need to have really good depth and strength in that position, so we need to be in a position by the end of August where there’s fierce competition and really good depth in every slot.

“Hopefully, midfield will be no different to that and Cameron will be there to fight for his minutes, like every other player.”

Reflecting on half-time when he was forced to give his teamtalk in the car park due to problems with the Hayes Lane plumbing, McKenna said: “I think there was an issue in the dressing room with sewage or something like that, so we weren’t able to go in the dressing room, so we had to congregate outside by the bus.

“It is what it is, an unusual situation, but it didn’t have any impact on the game. Just a bit of a strange one.”

Regarding Azor Matusiwa, who was missing from the squad having made his debut for the club at Birmingham, McKenna said: “He had some tightness in his groin from Friday night, so not available.”

New signings Chuba Akpom and Jens Cajuste aren’t fit enough to be involved yet due to their lack of pre-seasons, while Omari Hutchinson made himself unavailable as he has made it clear he wants a move back to the Premier League, with Brentford and Nottingham Forest having had offers rebuffed, while Nathan Broadhead, a Wrexham target, called in sick.

Young central defender Elkan Baggott was left out so as not to hamper a potential loan move.

“Elkan, just with the situation that there’s a possibility that he’ll go on loan this year,” McKenna explained. “That’s not for certain and he’s an important member of the group until that point.

“But we wanted to give Leif [Davis] some more minutes tonight with the fact that he’s had a really, really broken pre-season, so we always planned to give him 45 minutes and we had some other good cover in the position.

“There’s a cup-tied situation with Elkan and there’s also the two-club rule across the season that sometimes can come back to bite you if a player plays a few minutes in the first round of the Carabao Cup and then, if he should happen to go on loan, that can limit what’s possible in the second half of the season.

“We made a decision alongside Elkan that, as we had the cover tonight in those areas, it was better to let him keep training and we’ll see what the situation is over the next couple of weeks.”

Photo: Matchday Images

armchaircritic59 added 00:36 - Aug 13 I'm always interested when people talk about " young " players. I'm most certainly not making ability comparisons here, but for instance, Lamine Yamal has only just turned 18, and has already made over 100 appearances for Barcelona alone and several more for Spain, and he's hardly a powerhouse in terms of build. At this rate he'll have made something approaching 400 for Barcelona when he hits 20! Is it just possible we overplay the " young " description. For me if you're good enough at whatever level you're playing at, age doesn't come into it. Whether 16, or 40! Just to say someone is still young and lacks experience etc, doesn't really cut it.

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