SCOT Bennett will be fit to play at Cambridge on Saturday despite being substituted in the first-half of the 5-0 EFL Trophy drubbing by Norwich U21

Michael Flynn admitted post-match that he had hauled off Bennett in the 32nd minute as a precaution ahead of the League 2 leaders’ game against Cambridge United this weekend.

“I couldn’t risk him. We were able to rest a couple tonight with Saturday in mind and because we’ve had so many games I just can’t risk any injuries,” said County Boss, Flynn

“That was out 10th game in 30 days, which is a lot. We’re back at it in the league on Saturday and even though this result is disappointing, it won’t dent our momentum.

“It was important to get 90 minutes into Kevin Ellison, Saiko Jenneh and Tom King, so there was definitely something on the credit side of the ledger. There were some things we needed to get out of the game and we did that, but it wasn’t a good result, it was a bad result.”

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Having been beaten 1-0 by Cheltenham in their opening game in Group N, their interest in a competition in which they reached the semi-final stages last season is probably now over.

County’s horror start saw them concede with less than two minutes on the clock as Josh Martin latched onto a long clearance under pressure by his goalkeeper and slip the ball through to the 18-year-old Omotoye.

He was through one-on-one with Tom King and the home goalkeeper did brilliantly well to block his first shot. Then lady luck shone on the visiting striker and the rebound fell in his favour and he stroked the ball into an empty net.

Four minutes later Martin picked out another great pass to send Matthew Dennis through on goal and he hit the back of the net. This time the fortune favoured the home side as the linesman flagged for a marginal offside.

The second half started in much the same way as the first as Omotoye doubled the lead within four minutes of the re-start. Some sloppy marking allowed the talented teenager to run to the near post and reach a cross from the left by Rob Nizet ahead of his marker and steer the ball past King.

County’s best chance of the game came from a cross from Ashley Baker after 65 minutes. Ellison head down from the far post and Amond just nudged the ball onto the roof of the net. Saikou Janneh then lofted a shot over the keeper and the bar.

Omotoye underlined talent with his hat-trick goal with a sweet left footed strike from the edge of the area then hit the top right corner of King’s net. Three minutes later Dennis joined him on the scoresheet with another screamer.

The final nail in County’s coffin was applied by Martin, who beat King from the penalty sport in the 82nd minute.

Flynn is still pleased he took the chance to promote a handful of his youth team products.

“It was a decent game in the first half and then in the second half Norwich ran more than us, they looked better than us and they looked stronger than us,” said Flynn.

“It is disappointing to lose 5-0, but the big thing is a couple of youth team players have had some experience. They will learn from that.

“I’m not going to point a finger at any of them because there were a couple of pros who didn’t come out with much credit.

“We’ve given another couple of players their starting debuts and another couple a game off the bench. Harrison Bright came on to make his debut alng with Zac Maher and Callum Ryan-Phillips started - it’s more debuts and now they know the level they need to get to.

“Norwich were an U21 team, whereas a lot of our boys were only 18 or younger. With the way things are our academy boys need to be ready at 18 if we are going to offer them a pro contract – it’s just the way it is because we haven’t got the time or money to nurse them through.

“A couple league 2 academies have gone, but at least we are trying to do the right thing and operate at a profit.”