Reading boss Ruben Selles felt tonight's 1-0 defeat at Cheltenham Town was a 'good challenge' for his young side in the EFL Trophy.

Making six changes from Saturday's FA Cup win over Fleetwood Town, the average age of the outfield players was just 19 and Tom Pett's second half strike was all that could separate the Royals and Robins.

Speaking to the media at the EV Charger Point Stadium, Selles commented: "It was a very good challenge for us. We knew that we needed to rotate the team and the first half, especially the first 15-20 mins, it took us time to adjust and get the physicality of the game, but we started the second half well and tried to put pressure and attack the spaces in behind. We had a couple of situations where we should have scored a goal and conceded a situation we should have defended better. I think it was a good performance, but we came here for a victory, and we didn’t get it."

Four first-team debuts were awarded and winger Adrian Akande was the only outfield player to have started a competitive match this season.

With most used to PL2 Academy football, Selles admitted the style of Michael Flynn's side needed to be looked at for the players.

"When they compete in the PL2, the best league in the country, and competing against teams like Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, they are in-possession-based teams. Here, it was going to be a lot of contact and second actions where you need to be good in possession and get your first touch properly or the pressure is coming. It is a little bit different, but it is good for them to get some exposure."

Ultimately another proud night for the Academy, who had the 88th, 89th and 90th graduate into the first team in Joe Barough, Boyd Beacroft and Jeremiah Okine-Peters, Selles added: "We mix a lot of things. We needed to rotate the lineup, we haven’t been able to get any player into the building, other than Chem Campell, for 11 months. They are working hard with Noel and with us so sometimes we have points where we make mistakes but through that experience and the way they train they were ready today. It was quite even, and they showed what they can do- they showed it on the weekend against Fleetwood too. We just need to continuing developing them and hopefully they will continue to grow with us."

On Saturday, Reading return to League One action at Stevenage.