Arsenal kids tick along nicely

As Sylvain Wiltord stroked home the spot-kick that secured victory for Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out, a glance at the famous timepiece that gave the Clock End of Highbury its name showed it was just after 10.45pm. Or, put another way, past the time when many of the Frenchman's young team-mates would normally be in bed.

Wiltord was one of the few players on show with first-team experience who helped end Rotherham's brave resistance in this third-round tie after the visitors had sent the game into extra time with a 90th-minute strike from Darren Byfield after Jeremie Aliadiere's first-half opener.

At one stage, Arsenal had two 16-year-olds on the pitch in Francesc Fabregas and Ryan Smith. Arsene Wenger was convinced the experience would be invaluable for his stars of the future. "That will have done them so much good," said the Arsenal manager. "You cannot replicate that kind of pressure outside a competitive game. That was the youngest-ever Arsenal team, and we had more chances.

"Some of them will now have the taste of what it is like to play in a senior game. Now they are through, they will have another chance to play.

"Even the more experienced players were caught by the emotion, by the intensity of the game. As for the youngsters, you cannot give them that kind of match in any training session - to have nearly won the game, to let in a late goal and then have penalties."

Wenger then rattled through the young guns who had represented the club - "Fabregas and Smith are 16, Gael Clichy is 18, Justin Hoyte 19, Quincy 17 ... they are all quite young. Aliadiere was lively but he is an old one in there. He is 20!.

"He is quick, very mobile and has a lightening start over the first 10 yards. He has good technique for a striker. He is now maturing physically whereas players like Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry did so much earlier.