West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has called for a reaction from the young players in his squad following their heavy League Cup defeat to Wigan Athletic.
Allardyce picked fringe players such as Dylan Tombides, Daniel Potts, Robert Hall and Matt Fanimo for the home cup tie, but his Hammers side were soundly beaten 4-1 by their Premier League counterparts.
The Hammers boss told Sky Sports News that the result will act as a wake-up a call to a large contingent of his playing squad.
He said: "With a result like that it can help them find out that they have to make massive leaps and strides to play consistently at this level.
"They do have ability and that will develop over the future hopefully.
"We have Mark Noble and James Tomkins in the squad who are home-grown and hopefully we will find one or two more who can make the step up as time goes on."
West Ham travel to Queens Park Rangers for a London derby in their next match on Monday, October 1.
Liam Power
