Mick McCarthy admits his Ipswich Town side have not been good enough to accommodate Andre Dozzell this season.
Sunday marks the first anniversary of Dozzell’s dramatic goalscoring Football League debut, the then-16-year-old coming on as a half-time substitute and scoring the equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday.
A year on, Dozzell, whose father Jason, also scored for Town as a 16-year-old on his Football League debut, has made just nine appearances for the Blues, who are currently struggling for form, nine points clear of the relegation zone, with five games left to play.
Ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Burton Albion and Monday’s home game with Newcastle United, McCarthy conceded the circumstances had not been right to allow Dozzell more game-time.
“If the team had been better, it might have been better for him,” said McCarthy.
“I don’t think we were doing him any favours and consequently it wasn’t doing us any favours.
“It would have been great if the team had been playing really well and he could have fitted in and not be needed to do so much, I guess, but we weren’t playing that well and Dozzer is going to struggle (in that situation), as would any youngster coming in.”
Another youngster, Teddy Bishop, whose season has been dogged by injuries, made his own personal breakthrough in the play-off season of 2015, but McCarthy believes the team’s situation was totally different then to the one Dozzell faces now.
“When Bish came in, we’d a more settled team, we hadn’t got injuries, he played in a real strong team that probably played week-in, week out,” McCarthy recalled.
“It was the same team nearly every single week and anyone who came in, came in to a strong team that was playing well. Unfortunately for Dozzer that’s never been the case.”
The teenager will have been frustrated at his lack of first-team action this season, but McCarthy says he would like to blood more rookies.
“Kundai (Benyu) has gone out and played and is doing well, Flynn Downes and Trystan Nydam have done well,” he said.
“I would love to be in a position where I could play them and not be bothered about results. At the moment that’s not the case.”
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