Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna says the club were 'disappointed' to have to field their U21 team against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday - but it was the right decision.
The club announced at 9pm on Thursday night that it would be the youngsters, rather than the first team, who would face Gladbach the following day.
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Roland Virkus, Gladbach sporting director, strongly criticised the move on Friday, and McKenna says he understood that frustration.
The decision was taken with the Blues short of numbers in the senior squad - but the U21s performed admirably, even taking the lead before eventually losing 3-1 in what was a fiery fixture.
“I know it was frustrating for everyone,” McKenna explained yesterday. “It’s not something that we wanted to happen but the reality is that we’ve been really short of bodies this week, right up until yesterday, to be honest. Today, we were deeper than we have been the rest of the week.
“We were really short right the way through the week and it was at the stage where it was going to be putting the players in jeopardy and therefore the team and the club in jeopardy for the start of the season to try and play the same group through two fixtures.
“We would like to be stronger in depth of numbers at the moment, for sure, there’s no doubt about that.
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“This time last year, we played two 90 minutes on the same day and were stronger in numbers but this pre-season we’re not for different reasons.
“We were disappointed, disappointed for any supporters who travelled, of course.
“I understand Mönchengladbach will be frustrated, as we would be in the situation, but I have to say I thought the young players did fantastically.
“Full credit to them, full credit to John (McGreal) and David (Wright) for how they prepared them, I thought they were a credit to themselves, a credit to the club.
“I thought they made it a competitive fixture and I think the positive you can take is that it was reflective of the spirit that we’re going to need in the club this season.
“To play two Bundesliga teams in 48 hours - one in Germany, one in Austria - and to be as competitive with our young players showing the same spirit and mentality as we want from the senior players, with the position that we’re in terms of numbers, I think reflects really well on the spirit inside the club.
“It’s not how we wanted the couple of days to play out, we’re disappointed that that decision had to be made.
“We’re certain that it was the right decision to protect the interest of the players and of the club.
“And the positives are that everyone’s made the best of it, the players and staff who were there yesterday were a credit to themselves.”
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