Sky Blues Under-21s Head Coach John Dempster was pleased to see his side progress to the third round of the Birmingham Senior Cup.
City came from behind to beat Tamworth 4-3 at the Lamb Ground after a brace from Fabio Tavares and goals from Ryan Howley and Tom Costello saw them book them progress.
Reflecting on the victory over the Southern Central Premier League side, Dempster gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance.
“We’re happy to get through to the next round in what is a nice competition to be part of and the objective was to get through to the next round and we’ve done that, so we’re pleased.
“They’re a competitive side who are doing well in their respective league and I think it took us 30 minutes to grow into the game, because there probably wasn’t a lot of quality on show.
“From then on, I thought the performance was good and you could tell in the second half our fitness levels started to show and that’s credit to Andy Young and the fitness team.
“We’re disappointed with the goals we conceded, at 4-1 we should really see the game out, so to concede another two goals is disappointing.
“We really should have won the game 4-1, but we’re into the next round and that’s what we set out to do.”
Dempster made two changes to the side that beat Swansea City a few days earlier, as Fabio Tavares and Ryan Howley were introduced into the starting eleven.
John was pleased to see Fabio and Ryan get their names on the scoresheet, as they played their part in helping City progress.
“Some of the goals we scored were good,” Dempster said.
“It’s brilliant for Fabio to get a brace and Ryan Howley to pop-up with one and then Tom Costello comes off the bench to score, a real poachers goal so we’re pleased with those and happy for them.”
Now, the Under-21s head into a winter break, where they will not play a Professional Development League fixture until January 2023.
This gives the 21s a seven-week window where they will be without a match, so Dempster is looking to get all his players out on loan if possible.
“Now we head into a period without a fixture until January, after what had been a really busy few months for the lads.
“The aim now is to try and send as many of them as we can out on loan to get some men’s football until we return.
“It will be important In their development to go out to new dressing rooms and new environments and playing football.
“I will be keeping a close eye on them over the next few weeks and hopefully like I said we can just get as many of them out on loan as possible.”