Aldershot Town assistant manager Mark Jones admitted “it was always going to be a tough night” for his young side after they were beaten by Ipswich Town’s under-21s in the National League Cup.

Goals from Jacob Mazionis, Frankie Runham (2), Josh Lewis and Shakil Nicolaou fired the Tractor Boys to a 5-0 victory at the EBB Stadium.

The Shots named a young side for their final National League Cup group stage game, and Jones admitted he was expecting a tough evening.

“To lose 5-0 is a little bit frustrating for us, but I thought for large parts of the game we acquitted ourselves reasonably well,” said Jones.

“It was a great experience for the young players. It was always going to be a tough night for us with what we were able to put out there, in terms of the team.

“Three or four first-team lads mixing in with the academy is always going to be difficult.

“We had to play the game. I don't mean that to sound disrespectful to the competition or to Ipswich, but it was a game we could have done without.

“The key thing for us was to make sure we protected some of our key players. That was always the main focus.

“We made a couple of substitutions after 30 seconds. I understand why the National League and Premier League have the team selection rules, because they want it to be a competitive game, but we need to look at the scheduling.

“It's okay for the clubs in the National League who have got bigger squads, but we've only got a squad of 21 players. With four or five injuries and big games before this and after it, it's always going to be difficult for us.

“We have tried to respect the competition as much as we possibly could.”