COVENTRY City Under 18s suffered a defeat at the hands of hosts Reading whose first half strike proved enought to take all three points.

With a number of established starters out of the side through unavailability and injury, manager Gregor Rioch took the opportunity to blood three Under 16s players for the away clash with the Royals, all of whom came through the test at a higher level with flying colours.

Jacob Collett made his full debut for the Under 18s as an Under 16 between the sticks in the absence of injured shotstoppers Michael Quirke and Lee Burge.

And while the Sky Blues trailed at half time they were unlucky not to have been two or three goals up at the interval as a series of early passing moves gave them a number of chances at goal, only to be lacking that final punch.

It was the Royals who struck the telling blow after 25 minutes, a cross from the left not dealt with by the City back four and not properly cleared, allowing the Reading striker to tuck the ball home from 12 yards out.

City kept at it in the second half and continued to press the hosts but could not find an equaliser despite Ricoh's attempts to shake thing up upfront, moving Nathan Cameron from the heart of defence to spearhead the Sky Blues' attack for the final 15 minutes.

But despite the defeat, Ricoh lavished glowing praise on his young side who he considered to be unlucky not to have come away with anything.

"We were really proud of the boys because they played some excellent stuff at times and they were unlucky not to have gotten a goal or two," he said.

"We had a young side out there and I thought the Under 16 lads were superb and definitely did us proud.

"We're also fortunate in that we will have a few bodies returning in time for the FA Youth Cup third round tie with Leicester City on December 2.

"Michael Quirke, Rob Ogleby, Callum Wilson, Shaun Jeffers and Jordan Clarke will all hopefully be available for selection so we will get a nice gathering of healthy bodies again."