AIDY Boothroyd had seen his young side bow out of the Carling Cup at Roots Hall after a 2-0 defeat.

But he pledged to make them learn from the disappointment of the loss and believes it will make them better players in the future.

Boothroyd had chosen to stick with his crop of youngsters against Southend's more experienced charges. Try as they might, the Hornets couldn't break through the resolute Shrimpers defence.

Boothroyd revealed that he very almost drafted in his first team squad after Saturday's disappointing defeat at Leicester: "I thought long and hard about playing Saturday's team because I was disappointed with the result and the performance.

"But I decided to keep them at home and work them hard ahead of our game against Ipswich on Saturday. With that in mind I thought I would stick with the kids who performed so well against Gillingham.

"But this was a different game, we found ourselves up against men who wanted a game and we often found ourselves on our backsides."

Admitting it was a 'bad week' for him, Boothroyd conceded he hadn't been moved to promote any of the youngsters into the first team at this stage, but believed it would play a huge part in their development.

"Losing today will probably do some of them some good, they can learn from this. I expected more from some of them. Aidy Mariappa has got Premiership experience, Anthony McNamee and Tamas Priskin had impressive fits and starts, but nothing that could win us the game.

"That's what it's all about - consistency. If you can produce week in, week out, then and only then are you a player.

"I do believe the lads have done well, but they now need a kick up the backside as that's all part of getting better."

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