Queens Park Rangers manager Gareth Ainsworth can see unbelievable potential in the Bristol City side and backs them to be Championship challengers going forward.
Ainsworth had little complaints over the 2-0 defeat for his side with the visitors deserving of the three points thanks to Mark Sykes and Sam Bell's goals on either side of half-time.
City had six academy players in their starting line-up in Max O'Leary, Zak Vyner, Cam Pring, Tommy Conway, Alex Scott and Sam Bell while having plenty of strength in depth from the substitute bench with Anis Mehmeti, Andi Weimann, Nahki Wells and Tomas Kalas coming off the bench in a quadruple substitution just after the hour mark.
Ainsworth says the young players City have at their disposal will prove the foundations to their future success having praised Nigel Pearson for the way he has built a competitive side on a shoestring budget.
Speaking after the game, the QPR boss said: "I think there's unbelievable potential at Bristol City because you realise how young they are and the changes they've made. The four they brought on, I mean, they are fantastic players and Nigel's done a brilliant job at Bristol City.
"Given time they could be a real challenger - they were a few years ago but I think they spent to do that and now they're a great example of developing and bringing players through.
"Managers, given time, can develop and I hope they can give Nige some time - if he wants it that is. And I'm sure he'll want to carry on the hard work that he's done. They were a good side today and having said that, the two goals were two mistakes but they usually are. We had 17 attempts on goal but we didn't really trouble their keeper.
"(They are a) Good club, Bristol. A big club. I wish them all the success in the future but I've got my own lot to look after and I'll make sure I do that this summer."
Mehmeti's introduction on 63 minutes also provided the opportunity for a reunion with his former Wycombe manager on the sidelines. Ainsworth signed the Albanian international from Essex Senior League side Woodford Town and helped nurture his potential and talent into a Championship player.
City spent seven figures to sign Mehmeti in January after scoring 19 goals in 97 appearances for Wycombe and while there have been glimpses of his class, including his brilliant assist against Wigan earlier in the season, there is still plenty more to come.
For Ainsworth, there is no doubt City have a future Premier League player on their hands. He added: "They obviously took Anis Mehmeti off me at Wycombe and he's a brilliant signing and players like that will definitely add to your success.
I think Anis has huge potential to play in the Premier League without a shadow of a doubt. He's made the step up and he's given a few quality moments to the Bristol City fans and the players. It just showed what we did at Wycombe, we took him out of step 9 football to make him into this seven-figure Championship player."
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