Huddersfield Town make unity their greatest strength as Leicester City stunned

From youngsters Cameron Ashia and Dan Vost to veteran Lee Nicholls, Lee Grant’s Carabao Cup squad showed resilience, confidence and a huge team spirit

If you thought Lee Grant was using his youngsters to help make up the numbers, think again.

Academy trio Jay Sway, Dan Vost and Cameron Ashia didn’t look at all out of place in Huddersfield Town’s summer friendlies, leading Grant to give opportunities to all three.

After Ashia’s goalscoring cameo from the bench against Reading on Saturday, Grant dedicated the strike to the hard work put in by Jon Worthington, Michael Tonge and the rest of the club’s youth coaches.

If Ashia can do it in a League One game, why not see what a few of those lads can do against Championship opposition?

The attacking midfielder was duly included from the start alongside central midfielder Vost as Leicester visited West Yorkshire in the first round of the Carabao Cup. By the time Town celebrated their penalty shootout victory, both players were on the scoresheet.

Vost reacted sharply to head home the rebound from Dion Charles’ saved penalty for his first senior goal. Ashia made it two goals from two games in sensational fashion to draw Town level again and set up their triumphant spot-kick finale. Sway came on late in the game, playing out of position on the left wing after an eye-catching pre-season, and did perfectly well.

It’s almost amusing to think that Town have spent millions over the past 18 months to bring their squad up to scratch in their bid for promotion, only for their kids to capture the headlines twice in a row.

Ashia, in particular, may still be one for the future, but over the long term could prove to be custom-made for Grant’s style of play. We already knew he was a phenomenal athlete, but he has shown he has a lot about him with his two different but equally well-taken strikes this week.

Many youngsters would have skied his effort against Reading. Ashia kept his composure and side-footed into the bottom corner.

Many youngsters, playing against superior opposition, wouldn’t have had the audacity to cut inside from the wing, reach the corner of the box, and pick out the far top corner. Still flying high from the weekend, Ashia did exactly that before wheeling away with an impassive shrug. Who, me?. Yes, him.