GARY Rowett said it was pre-planned to give Mason Bennett only 45 minutes in the 3-1 EFL Cup first-round win at Crawley.
Bennett started on the left side of a front three before being replaced with Jed Wallace at half-time.
Rowett explained: “It was pre-planned, we wanted to mix it up between Mason and Jed, they’ve both had quite a lot of minutes pre-season.
“Connor [Mahoney] hasn’t had quite as many minutes, Matt Smith hasn’t had a lot of minutes. Tom Bradshaw has.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t have used more than three subs, we would have mixed it up a bit more. But it was always planned to give Mason 45, just to make sure we don’t over-extend him unnecessarily.
“He gets another week’s training next week and has got through three or four games.
“I think he got a little bit frustrated first half because there were a few times he probably got fouled and didn’t get it. He started then trying too hard and got a little tense, so it didn’t do him any harm to come off anyway.”
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