City midfielder Conor Thomas has praised the City Academy after another Academy product makes his firs-team debut...
Coventry City midfielder Conor Thomas has heaped praise on the City Academy after another graduate made his first-team debut in the 1-1 draw with Hartlepool United.
Courtney Baker-Richardson came on in the 71st minute of the game for Franck Moussa having been handed a first-team squad number before the 3-1 win over AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup first round at Kingsmeadow.
With City missing four senior strikers at the weekend, Leon Clarke, Callum Wilson, Chris Dagnall and Chris Maguire, manager Steven Pressley once again turned the Academy for a striking option.
Thomas was delighted to see Baker-Richardson get his first-team debut and believes there are many more players coming through.
The City midfielder said: "It has been a great year for the Academy so far. There are so many players in the squad from the Academy and I think it is having a positive impact on results.
"It was good to see Courtney (Baker-Richardson) come on and I'm sure that is something he will remember for the rest of his life.
"He will definitely benefit from that experience and I'm sure in the 20 minutes he was on the pitch, he learnt quite a few things. A lot of credit has to go to the gaffer who is giving the young players a chance.
"We get to see a lot of the current Academy side and it seems there is a lot of good players coming through at the moment."
The Sky Blues return to League One action this weekend as Crewe Alexandra travel to Sixfields as City look to get their 11th league win of the season.
City suffered defeat to the Alex in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Area final last season and Thomas has said that will serve as motivation in the weekend's game.
He added: "We are getting into a really busy period for games now and even though Crewe are struggling at the bottom of the league, we know there are no easy games in this division.
"Of course, it is a bit of a cliche but we have to take every game as it comes and make sure we are at our best for the occasion.
"We all remember what happened against them last season and we have to make sure it doesn't happen again. They beat us in the league as well so we will definitely be looking to put that right."