Teddy Bishop is excited by the prospect of playing in a homegrown Ipswich Town midfield but has stressed the importance of experienced heads to help the club’s youngsters next season.
Teddy Bishop is excited by the prospect of playing in a homegrown Ipswich Town midfield but has stressed the importance of experienced heads to help the club’s youngsters next season.
The 22-year-old was one of six academy graduates to take to the field in the 2-0 loss at Brentford on Wednesday night, five of them midfielders, in a game where the Blues were overrun at times by the Bees’ slick brand of pass and move football.
Bishop believes his side missed the influence of veteran Cole Skuse, who was absent with a knee problem, with the youngster insisting the club’s experienced players will be more important than ever as Town rebuild around a young core in League One.
“I think we can,” Bishop said when asked if the Blues youngsters could thrive as part of the same midfield.
“We have the experience of Cole Skuse as well which I think we missed (at Brentford) with his talking and his presence.
“We’re learning with him and the rest of the older fans and the more experience we get the better we will be.
“You can’t just chuck 10 youngsters on the pitch and expect it to happen. You need your voices like Chambers and Skuse – your experience.
“We miss them when they don’t play.”
“There is going to be plenty of competition for places,” Bishop continued.
“We’re really strong in midfield with a lot of youngsters and others coming back from injury.
“It’s healthy, it picks up the standard in training because everyone’s fighting for their position.
“That will only help us in the long run.
“We all do different jobs in there so if we can all click together then it can be really promising for the future.”
The loss at Griffin Park proved to be a tough night at the office for the Blues, with little route back into the game following Flynn Downes’ slip which led to the Bees’ second goal.
“Flynn’s a really strong character,” Bishop said. “His head could have dropped after that but I thought he had a really good second half.
“That can happen to anyone so he’ll bounce back from that. He’s fine.
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“It was very tough because they move the ball very quickly and we couldn’t really live with them in the first half.
“Second half was a little bit better but the game was gone I suppose.
“We played some good football in the second half but we need to move the ball quicker like they did, which I think will come for us.
“The boys are all young and the more experience we get the better we will be.”
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