When Coventry City boss Mark Robins drafted in loan players Jordan Maguire-Drew and Josh Barrett in January it looked like existing personnel might have to make way for the pair.
That appeared to be particularly the case for youngsters Tom Bayliss and Jordan Shipley, both of whom have been occupying the wide midfield roles on a fairly regular basis in recent weeks.
They are central midfielders by trade but with skipper
Michael Doyle being partnered by fit-again
Liam Kelly , the Academy graduates have been deployed out of position where they have largely been preferred to Category One development players Maguire-Drew and Barrett, from Brighton and Reading respectively – a fact that speaks volumes for how highly the manager thinks of the home-grown duo.
Here, in the first of a two-part look at the club's young talents,
Sky Blues development coach Jason Farndon assesses how he thinks Bayliss is doing and explains exactly why he thinks he’s stayed one step ahead of his loan rivals.
The case for Tom Bayliss:
In Bayliss’s case, he’s made an incredible 16 consecutive starts and played the full 90 minutes in all but two, substituted in the last ten minutes against MK Dons in the FA Cup win and just after the hour against Accrington Stanley.
So what’s the secret to last year’s Under-18s captain’s success?
“I think Tom has always been different, in that he’s very athletic and always played a lot of games,” said Farndon.
“He suffered a lot of injuries up until Under-16 and then we consciously tried to change his mentality about his injuries and really drive him.
“And he’s become a really good repeat athlete and I think he is quicker than anyone at the club box-to-box; repeat, repeat, repeat.
“You can see that when he’s got the ball and I think that’s what makes him different.
“He’s slight but powerful and he’ll only grow as well because he’s still a young one, not 19 until April, so there’s still plenty of development in him.
“Tactically he’s excellent as well, and off the pitch he loves football.”
So how has he handled being thrust into the first team picture?
“Tom’s mentality has been great,” said the Under-23s coach, who was in charge of the Under-18s last season.
“We actually got knocked out of the FA Youth Cup against Dunkirk and he was offered a contract the next day because we were really conscious because he stood up to the battle that night, so we really pushed for him to get a contract the day after because he’d put a flag in the ground.
“It wasn’t about his performance but just the way he was.”
He added: “Stepping up was never really a question. He’s got a bit about him and the manager hasn’t looked back since.”
Asked why he thinks Bayliss and Shipley have kept the likes of Maguire-Drew and Barrett out, he said: “The Under-23s isn’t always the greatest spectacle at this level but it’s probably real.
“If you ever watch Cat One Under-23s it’s like watching nice football all the while and it’s not the reality of the game, unfortunately.
“We get to play on League Two pitches while every pitch at Cat One is like a carpet, so it’s a bit more real and so maybe the jump is not so great from our 23s to the first team.
“But our boys just seem to be prepared for the step up, whether that’s just training with the first team etc I don’t know.”(/quote]