I think that is an important factor, Roberts was only 17 in the summer (Marsh turns 20 next month) and while he is going really well in the U18s this season, he has only made 4 sub appearances in 7 games for the Devs so far, so I think they will want to have him make that step up first, before throwing him into League Two. At what stage they give him a few DevPaul Cooper wrote:Agree on that one. Just because Marsh is a member of the Development squad he still has to perform to justify any chances he may get. If Roberts is deemed to be good enough there is no reason why he shouldn't leapfrog Marsh.Dartford Ox wrote:I see James Roberts scored his 16th goal of the season for the youth tonight. How long before he leap-frogs Marsh in the pecking order. Not too long I suggest - but that is just a gut feeling.
The only thing that contradicts that a little is that Roberts has not had that much game time for the development Squad which means that most of his games have been against U18s and not hardened Centre backs in League 2.
starts at the expense of Marsh or Shama is a different question and it will be fascinating to see this and similar situations all over the pitch as younger players challenge to climb up the pecking order...