THE emergence of James Kaloczi in the heart of Saints’ midfield should fill fans with confidence for years to come, according to City’s joint manager James Gray.

Kaloczi has been praised twice in the last three games by Gray and fellow manager Graham Golds, calling him the “best player on the pitch for us” against Gosport Borough and describing his first team debut against Frome as “solid”.

Golds tweeted after the Frome game: “Well done to James Kaloczi on full 1st team league debut in 3-0 win at Frome last night. Top performance in holding mid #solid #cultured.”

The teenager had loan spells at Potters Bar and Leighton before finding a spot in Saint’s starting line up.

And with youth players Harry Carr, Elliot Bailey, Gio Lee-Baptiste, Myles Scott and Jack McNamara plying their trade at Spartan South Midlands League side Leverstock Green and Tremayne Charles also out on loan, Gray believes the club, potentially, has a lot of talented youngsters to work with.

Bailey was instrumental in Leverstock’s 2-1 win over Tring Athletic on Tuesday night, winning the penalty for Green’s first goal. And he, Baptiste and Scott all started for Leverstock in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Haringey Borough.

“Those players need to go out and get experience,” said Gray.

“I have spoken to Leverstock’s manager [Steve Benitez] and he tells me the lads are playing very well.

“I know this league inside out – it is a tough, physical, unforgiving league – so the players need to benefit from playing five or six games for 90 minutes so they can feel the physicality of it.”

He singled out Charles as a player who could potentially have a spot in the first team and will be fighting for one on his return from Leighton.

“Graham and I are looking towards next season because we didn’t think we could salvage much from this one given the circumstances,” added Gray.

However, Saints young side - the team that travelled to Frome Town had an average age of 21 - is still in with a shot of making the playoffs despite two poor performances against Weymouth and Gosport.

“Brad Wadkins, Josh Urquhart and Charlie Dove are all around 19, 20 years old and sometimes that inexperience can be a problem, such as the last two games when we were out of it 20 minutes into the game.

“But they will learn from this season and come back stronger.”