Reserve team boss Malky Thomson

Malky Thomson admitted that tonight's heavy defeat to Aston Villa was a learning curve for the younger players in his reserve side.

The Blues second string went toe-to-toe with the current league leaders during the opening 20 minutes but it was one-way traffic once the hosts took the lead and Villa went on to score three more goals with no reply.

"We started the game reasonably well but to be honest in the second half we never competed at all. We never retained the ball, any time it went up front it just came back at us and it made it increasingly difficult, especially for the younger ones out there," Thomson told bcfc.com.

"We had three first year scholars starting the game so, on a positive vein, it's a reality check and shows the youngsters what it's about at this level.

"The side had that wee bit of imbalance with younger ones and some older ones just coming back from injury, but there are no excuses as Villa totally deserved the win.

"They are a fantastic team, they use the ball well and play in triangles, get the ball into wide areas, isolate you and get the ball into the box.

"There was some fantastic play by them and it's something we've got to learn from."

David Murphy came through the 90 minutes unscathed in his first competitive appearance since recovering from a serious knee injury.

Nathan Redmond pictured at Villa Park this evening.

And one of the other few positives was a lively performance off the substitutes' bench of 16-year-old schoolboy Nathan Redmond.

Thomson admitted: "It was a great experience for him. If you look at some of the top players in the Premier League, the likes of Wayne Rooney, they've been dipped in at reserve level from a young age and that's what we're trying to do at Birmingham.

"The manager is a great believer in that, he wants the younger ones to get experience so it's going to lead to a bit of competition in that dressing room and some of the older ones might see younger one bypassing them."

Blues Reserves have a busy schedule from now until the end of the season with a game every week so Thomson's charges won't have to dwell on this loss for too long.

"We'll get back on track. We are certainly hurting after a defeat like that, nobody likes getting beat. But we have to dust ourselves down and go again, just as the first team did last night," concluded Thomson.