Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy is glad he stuck by his guns and named a team full of fringe players and kids for tonight’s Capital One Cup clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Blues may have lost 3-0 to a star-studded United team – Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial among the goals – but inexperienced youngsters such as Josh Emmanuel and Josh Yorwerth were certainly not overawed by the occasion.

Louis van Gaal’s starting XI cost an eye-watering £203m to assemble, compared to Town’s paltry £8.5k. The visitors battled gamely throughout though and sent home the travelling army of around 5,500 supporters filled with pride.

“I’m delighted with how they played. It’s difficult when you lose 3-0, but I’ve just said to them ‘well done lads’,” said McCarthy.

“We were beaten, but I could have put any team out against that United team and we probably still would have got beaten. The bookies wouldn’t have given good odds on us whatever team I put out.

“I’ve been to place likes Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool and named a full strength team and still had a doing in the past. So I wanted to stick with the lads that got us here because they deserved to play.

“I said to you after Doncaster game that I would play the same team in the next round, then when we drew United I said I might have to rethink that. That was never going to be the case, I was always going to play the same lads.

“You have to show faith in people and show them that when I do want them to play in the league I’m not worried about playing them. I hope they get that feeling from tonight.”

He continued: “We’ve got Jonny Parr and Kevin Bru back playing, I thought Tommy Oar did well and it will have been a good learning experience for someone like Josh Emmanuel.

“I now know that I have players I can play in the first team without any reservations at all. I knew that anyway, but tonight has just backed that up.

“I think our supporters saw a really spirited performance.”