Kenny Jackett has defended the young players who came into the Pompey side for their EFL Trophy hammering at Peterborough.

He admitted it was asking a lot of the teenagers who came into the side after a period in which they had not played any competitive football.

But the Pompey boss was upset by some of the goals they let in during the 5-1 defeat that ended the Blues' hopes of making a third straight trophy final.

Jackett told Pompey website: 'We’re always frustrated when we lose a game and some of them were really soft. With the free-kick that we conceded right before half-time, Paul Downing’s headed the ball against Frankie Kent and it’s bounced in.

'And the two direct ones that Peterborough scored weren’t necessarily right into the corner of the net. They didn’t actually get that many shots in, but they didn’t need to, but obviously we had a mixed side and they had their best one.

'We knew it would be a good test and some of our lads needed a game because they haven’t had one for a while.

'I was pleased with the young players, who have all got a lot of ability and it was a really good experience for them. They’ve been off over the Christmas period, so to come into this standard of football without even having regular games in your own league is difficult.

'That’s the way that it is this year, but we make allowances for that as a club and they can learn a lot from it.”

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