RICHARD O’Donnell hailed the efforts of City’s rising youngsters as they eye a potential Valley Parade showdown with Liverpool.

Reece Staunton and Tyler French both impressed on opening day as Stuart McCall’s men made a winning start in the Carabao Cup at Bolton.

Their reward from yesterday’s second-round draw, carried out by one-time Bantam Phil Babb, is to host League One Lincoln next week.

And the winner of that one gets the plum tie at home to Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League champions the week after.

It is a mouth-watering prospect for both clubs – although fans are still unlikely to be allowed in at this stage.

A near sell-out crowd of 24,343 witnessed last summer’s friendly in aid of Stephen Darby’s MND charity when James Milner scored twice as Liverpool won 3-1.

City teed up the opportunity of a potential rematch in just over a fortnight with their 2-1 victory at Bolton.

It was an impressive performance against the League Two promotion favourites by a side that included teenager Staunton at centre half and French playing right wing-back.

Skipper O’Donnell said: “Reece is only a first-year pro and Tyler a little bit older but he’s someone who is still developing in the game.

“I thought they did really well. But that doesn’t surprise me if you could have seen them in pre-season and the way they’ve played in the games.”

Kian Scales was named among the subs by McCall and O’Donnell can also see opportunities arising for the likes of fellow teenagers Jorge Sikora and Finn Cousin-Dawson with the congested programme City will face this season.

He added: “It’s a great time to be a young professional at this football club.

“Circumstances stipulated that we are probably going to carry a small squad and with the manager you know you’re going to get a chance.

“It’s then up to them to take it and the lads who played on Saturday have done themselves no harm. The others are pushing every day as well.

“The biggest compliment I can pay about the five first-year pros is that you can’t tell they are.

“From when we came in for day one of pre-season, they have blended into the squad very well.

“Sometimes you can stand out as a young lad because you’re a bit intimidated and not quite yourself.

“It’s a big jump. We haven’t got an under-23s set-up at the club at the moment so they are going straight from (under) 18s to men’s football.

“But you haven’t noticed them for being that young.”

While McCall still aims to add a right back to his squad before next month's transfer deadline, he sees the attributes in French - who was starting his fifth game - to make his mark on that side.

The City boss said: “Tyler got brought in from Sudbury and was out on loan at Fylde when I came in, so I’d not seen him.

“But from day one, I looked at him and thought, ‘he’s 6ft 2in, the quickest at the club and decent on the ball’. I want to give him a chance.

“We’re not getting carried away but I thought he was solid. We will work with him and he’s been really responsive to what we are doing.”