Ipswich Town boss Paul Lambert is looking at the ‘bigger picture’ following last night’s Carabao Cup exit at Luton.
The Blues went down 3-1 at Kenilworth Road, following goals from Lloyd Jones, Elliot Lee and Andre Shinnie, with Armando Dobra grabbing a consolation on his debut.
While Lambert was disappointed to lose the game, for which he made 10 changes and fielded a mix of players lacking match fitness and first-team experience, he insisted the league remains a priority.
"We're disappointed to lose any game but we know what the bigger picture is," he said.
"We couldn't take a risk with our strongest side. We had to make changes because we can't lose any more players because the league is the most important.
"There will be changes again on Saturday."
Lambert reserved special praise for teenager Dobra, who had a succession of good moments during a bright debut.
"I like the way he plays, the kid, I like the way he goes about it," the Town boss said.
"He has no fear and I thought he was very, very good.
"He did well in Germany, as did Bailey, but they are 18-year-olds.
"It was tough because a lot of the guys hadn't played a lot of football and there were some younger guys getting a game, but no complaints over the result," Lambert continued.
"I'm not sure it was a penalty (Josh Emmanuel fouled Elliot Lee) and some refereeing decisions I thought were pretty bizarre with certain things there.
"The result - ok, we lose but that's going to happen with young players, but there are a lot of pluses with Will (Norris) getting his first game, Josh (Emmanuel) having his first game really and then Bailey (Clements) and (Armando) Dobra who I thought was very, very good.
"That was Gwion Edwards' first hour since we came back after the summer and Robbo (Jordan Roberts) missed a fortnight through injury. Judgey playing two back-to-back is tough and Emyr Huws playing his first game in nearly two years.
"There are a lot of good things there.
"They kept on going and we had a couple of chances. Even Andre (Dozzell) coming back is a bonus and he had a couple of chances to score. Robbo did too.
"There are some good things there and we take that."
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