Steve Morison highlighted both Oliver Denham and Max Watters for their performances in the narrow defeat by Sheffield United on Saturday.
The Bluebirds boss spoke of his pride after the game at Bramall Lane, reiterating the point that his squad cost £30m less than their opponents, had an average age of 23 at the end of the match and gave a very good account of themselves at a notoriously difficult ground.
We know that this is all about planning for next season now. There are players being asked to play who likely know they won't be at the club in just a few weeks' time, while there are youngsters who clearly need more Championship football before they can be relied upon regularly in a full and gruelling campaign.
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But both Denham and Watters, who are 19 and 23 respectively, gave arguably their best performances in a Bluebirds shirt against the Blades, as our player ratings suggested, and Morison was keen to praise the young duo.
"We've got some really good players, that's what I think we've learned. I think Ollie Denham was outstanding. I was gutted for him at the end when he slipped and you thought they were going to score," Morison said after the 1-0 defeat.
"Up until that moment, playing against good players, he never would have played against the Billy Sharps of this world, I thought he was excellent.
"I thought Max was really good for the 60 minutes he was on. The last time I played him I took him off after 36 minutes and today he took on so much instruction from us, he carried it out. The bits you wouldn't notice we've given him, like to stop them having quick free-kicks, he stopped every single one.
"There were really positive performances. As we know, we need to be better in the final third. We will have moments, like we have done this year, where we are good in the final third, but we need that more consistently. That won't come until we get some more players in those positions."
It's clearly a learning period for Morison and his staff. They know that they won't be able to compete next season with the squad as it currently is, however they did match the Blades almost exactly for possessions and chances made, but that is why this summer is so important.
But it is vital that he players who will be a big part of the club's future, such as Denham and Watters, do start to level up their performances and demand their spots in the starting line-up. They did their chances no harm against the Blades and Morison said that is the sort of performance they must carry out in their final three games of the season if they are to get anything out of those fixtures before the summer break.
"We are not far away," he said of his squad. "We've just got to take our chances, the good thing is that we keep getting the chances. [Bramall Lane] was an anxious place today.
"I said to the players after that they should be proud and that is the standard. I told them not to cloud themselves in any form of negativity because we are on our way to a good place and we need to keep being positive. We will be able to come back here next year and give a better account of ourselves."
