It’s been a really positive first part of the season"
The Under 23s have enjoyed a strong opening period of the season; they're currently fourth in the Premier League 2 table with a game in hand, competing in the first round of the Premier League Cup, in Round Three of the Checkatrade Trophy and through to the quarter finals of the Birmingham Senior Cup.
When asked how he would assess the side's start to the campaign, Sellars replied: “Excellent. I’d give them a B plus in terms of results and performances and in terms of them as a team and how they work every day.
"Another plus point is obviously the lads that have got in the first team and been around that squad.
After a short Christmas break, the players are back at Compton Park preparing themselves for the rest of the season that resumes against Middlesbrough in a PL2 tie on Monday, 9th January.
And the Under 23s Coach believes that the squad have deserved their break after a lot of games to start the season.
“They had a bit of a break over Christmas and I think that they deserved it," explained Sellars.
“They’re young boys and they’re still learning. We’ve had a lot of games which doesn’t always happen at this level.
“Hopefully they’ve had a good break and are ready to go in the second part of the year.
“You start to lose Connor Ronan, Bright Enobakhare to the first team and that’s our job. I’m not going to complain about that.
“I think it’s fantastic as we can now say to them, who’s going to be the next one?
“The gaffer’s prepared to put you in, if you do well in the Under 23s’ games and he likes what he sees then he’s prepared to play you and that can only be a positive thing.
“Hopefully that will be a goal for a lot of them thinking can I be the next one?"
The Under 23s' last outing before Christmas was a rare defeat, falling 4-0 to West Ham United at AFC Telford.
But it was a more experienced squad with a number of first team players dropping down to gain minutes on the pitch.
Discussing the game, Sellars said: “The objective of the game changed a little bit in terms of it being about minutes for players to return from injury and that naturally affects the cohesion of the team.
“It becomes a different game to a Under 23 game, it changes totally and sometimes you just have to accept that.
before Christmas, let’s try and get something out of it. If we can, great, there’s more minutes for some of the first team players and another opportunity for the younger lads to play with first team players
“There were a lot of players who weren’t 100% fit and I just thought it showed on the night.
“With the ball we were okay at times, we created more chances and more shots on goal than the opposition.
“But without the ball there was no cohesion around what we were trying to do.
“Just different ideas at times and I thought that came across in how we lost the goals really, with some poor defending.
“I was looking to see how the younger players compare with the first team players and I thought, on the night, that Morgan Gibbs-White and Christian Herc were outstanding.
“They responded well to disappointment in the FA Youth Cup on Friday. I thought they responded really well.
“We could have left them out but we thought they could go again and they were two of the positives we took from the game."
