WORCESTER City joint boss Matt Gardiner praised his young guns for their plucky display in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at National League North high-fliers Harrogate Town.

He was impressed by the debut of teenage goalkeeper Ethan Ross, who made his first started in place of the suspended Nathan Vaughan.

Sean Geddes had a first-half penalty saved and Harrogate finished the game with 10 men after Andy McWilliams was sent off for two bookings.

But Brendan Daniels’ second-half wonder strike gave Harrogate the points.

There was no place in City’s starting line-up for five players who saw off Gateshead in the last round of the FA Cup to set up the trip to Sheffield United on Saturday.

In addition to Vaughan, Ashley Vincent and Wayne Thomas were unused substitutes, while Deon Burton and Connor Gater were left out of the squad.

Gardiner said: “Ethan Ross came in and looked confident. I thought his distribution was good – there were a couple of little things with his game management which you’d expect from an 18-year-old coming in, but overall I thought he was good.

“He has made two great saves, one in each half, and I’m pleased for him. We’re grateful to West Brom for letting us have him.

“All in all we had a number of younger players out on the pitch. I thought they tried their hardest and we’re disappointed that we didn’t get a point.”

He added: “The penalty miss was crucial. We’d had a few free-kicks and were on top for a while. We really needed to nick a goal then for a chance of getting a result. In the end, they were able to see the game out comfortably.”

Gardiner continued: “We had a few niggles from last week and I thought the lads who played did really well. Harrogate are in the play-off places and we have competed well.”

Meanwhile, City’s FA Cup opponents Sheffield United lost 1-0 at Crewe in League One.