Short praises Blues duo

Short: Praise for youngsters

Notts County manager Craig Short insists Birmingham City duo Jake Jervis and Luke Hubbins have a big part to play for the club this season.

The youngsters have joined the Magpies on loan until January, with Jervis yet to start in League Two and Hubbins only featuring in cup competitions.

However, after both players started Wednesday's Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, Short revealed that the duo will soon be playing a more prominent role at Meadow Lane.

"Luke Hubbins and Jake Jervis are two 18-year-olds from Birmingham City that are desperate to get a chance to show what they can do, but I didn't want to throw them into the side when we were going through a tough time," Hubbins told skysports.com.

"It's not fair on the lads to ask them to have to deal with that pressure whilst coming to terms with first-team football.

"I have been very impressed with both of them though and hopefully I can utilise them more when we are doing well.

"I just felt that we needed a little bit more experience to help us get through the rough patch that we have found ourselves in recently.

"Jake did well when he came on at half-time on Saturday (at Bournemouth), hitting the post in the build-up to our second goal and looked lively throughout."