Albion are blooding two teenage Irish prospects against Barnet at the Amex tonight.

Central midfielder Jayson Molumby and striker Aaron Connolly are in the squad for the Carabao Cup second round tie.

Molumby could start and Connolly is likely to feature from the bench, with injuries biting into the Premier League group and manager Chris Hughton committed to resting his first teamers for Saturday’s visit to Watford.

Hughton revealed to The Argus: “There will be a couple of young players involved, Jayson Molumby and Aaron Connolly.

“Jason has got a good chance of starting. He has developed really well over the last year and is a good, all-round midfield player.

The Argus:

Aaron Connolly (picture by Paul Hazlewood)

“Aaron is a No.9 and with where we are at the moment, without Sam Baldock, you are looking at Glenn (Murray) and Tomer (Hemed).”

Baldock, Murray, Beram Kayal, Steve Sidwell and Izzy Brown are all sidelined, so Hughton has turned to the young Republic of Ireland internationals to plug the gaps.

Albion saw off competition from West Brom, Aston Villa, Birmingham and Blackburn to land Molumby, 18, two years ago.

He has already represented Republic of Ireland under-19s and has been fast-tracked into the Seagulls’ under-23s.

Connolly, not 18 until next January, scored twice on his debut for the under-23s last season and has represented his country at under-17 level.

Hughton has also confirmed to The Argus that two of the back-up summer signings are in contention tonight, Czech right-back Ales Mateju and Dutch left-winger Soufyan Ahannach.

The team will be totally different to the one that plays at Vicarage Road on Saturday, but Hughton believes a positive result could still have an uplifting impact on Albion’s Premier League fortunes.

“Yes it can, just on a feel,” he said. “Irrespective that it’s a different competition and our aim is to get some sort of result at Watford, the feel from getting a good result in what ever way we do it always transmits right the way through the club.”