Paul Hart has underlined the benefit of first-team players dropping into his Under-21s side to pick up game time and build their match fitness.

Sam Byram and Lee Erwin both completed the full 90 minutes of Monday afternoon’s U21s defeat at Nottingham Forest, while Souleymane Doukara – a regular with the youngsters this season – played the majority of the game before being replaced late on.

Tommaso Bianchi and Casper Sloth have also been heavily involved with the U21s this term, with Bianchi building up his fitness after returning from injury and Sloth hoping to catch the eye after finding himself out of the picture with the first-team.

Speaking after Monday’s game at Forest, Hart said: “All the players who are coming down from the first team need that time on the pitch, so it’s beneficial for them.

“Lee worked really hard, Doukara worked hard and so did Sam – I was really pleased with their attitude towards the game.”

Second-half goals from Forest’s Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel and Jack Kelly saw the hosts claim the three points on Monday afternoon, but Hart drew plenty of positives from his side’s display despite a late sending-off for defender Jake Skelton.

“I was quite pleased with the performance overall,” Hart said. “I thought we conceded two poor goals but we played some good football and worked really hard.

“We threatened an awful lot without really delivering at the end of it. We had two or three chances that we probably should have tucked away.

“I have to look at different things in terms of development and the players worked hard and gave everything – I’m really pleased with that.

“We caused them problems, especially in the first half, and I thought they defended particularly – they had to.”