Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has thrown the gauntlet down to young defenders Myles Kenlock and Josh Yorwerth, as the duo get ready to make their senior Ipswich Town bows at home to Stevenage, in the Capital One Cup first round, tonight.
Eighteen-year-old left-back Kenlock, a product of the Town academy, and centre-back Yorwerth, 20, a summer free transfer from Cardiff City, will play in a back four along with experienced campaigners Christophe Berra and Luke Chambers, as the Blues target a first cup win under McCarthy in any competition.
New signings Giles Coke, Jonathan Douglas, Brett Pitman and Larsen Toure will also be handed their first starts, in a strong-looking Town line-up that features Dean Gerken, Jay Tabb and David McGoldrick.
Coke, Douglas and McGoldrick all made appearances off the bench in Saturday’s 2-2 league draw at Brentford, in a game where rookie right-back Josh Emmanuel also made an impressive league debut.
With that in mind, McCarthy hopes Kenlock and Yorwerth can take heart from the 17-year-old’s display.
“Having seen Josh Emmanuel play on Saturday, he did not deserve to be in a team that drew the game,” insisted McCarthy.
“Josh Yorwerth and Myles Kenlock will see that and hopefully it can inspire them to good performances too.”
He added: “If they want to make any impression on me and my team and be at this club and play, they have got to be able to play with Christophe Berra and Chambo (Luke Chambers) and the other first-team players,” said McCarthy.
“If that’s not an opportunity to shine, then I don’t know what is.”
McCarthy is without Kevin Bru, who pulled a hamstring in training yesterday, while Jonathan Parr (thigh) and Teddy Bishop (hamstring and shins) remain sidelined. But McCarthy added: “No-one can say that is a weakened team. That team might have to play on a Saturday in the league.
“There will be nine hardened, seasoned professionals out there and a couple of youngsters making their debuts.
“We had a really good performance on Saturday and those players can have a break and be ready to go again (this Saturday).
“If they were having to play every game then I would be saying it was too much.
“We’ve got nine first-team players playing tonight, and if they have got ambitions of being in the first team, if I need someone against Burnley on Tuesday, they’ll have had a tough game (tonight) and will be prepared.”
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