At tea-time on Sunday, three Manchester City academy players had front row seats to Pep Guardiola's latest dressing room inquest.

City have proudly let cameras inside the inner sanctum of the Etihad for their four consecutive title-winning seasons, using the more negative results to sell the documentaries, shape the narrative and show the relentless nature of Guardiola and his players. They are the best bits, although the editors of the current season's documentary may have a busier job to tell a positive story after the current run of defeats, collapses and mistakes.

That is a conversation to be had at the end of the season, however. For now, the show goes on as Guardiola says, and a number of players he has used this term got some much-needed game-time for the under-21s just 24 hours after the derby collapse.

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Nico O'Reilly is a first-team player these days after his starring turn in the USA this summer. He has four appearances to his name including a Community Shield start in defensive midfield against Manchester United at Wembley. In an ideal world, he would have played more than his 10 academy games, but has been needed to assist the first team from the bench on 15 occasions already. He has been in all but five matchday squads in the Premier League but is yet to make his league debut.

With City having a free midweek for the first time since September, O'Reilly was able to get his first match action in a month as the under-21s took on Nottingham Forest on Monday in Premier League 2. That is the downside of being a first team player at his age - you can get stuck between senior and academy fixtures.

But O'Reilly sent a reminder of his obvious qualities with a goal that proved to be the winner against Forest to keep the young Blues top of the division, and secure an eighth straight win.

His goal - running into the box from a Divin Mubama pass - came from his natural number 10 position, whereas Guardiola prefers to use him further back. Mubama was a surprise name on the bench vs United in the Premier League, and notched his first goals for City a day later vs Forest.

The £2m summer signing from West Ham has struggled with injuries yet made up for lost time with a brace in his first start for a City side. He finished Josh Wilson-Esbrand's cross at the back post, before collecting a pass from Jacob Wright to grab his second.

Mubama, 20, has first team experience with West Ham but was signed for the City academy. He has trained with the first team and his return to fitness (and scoring) could offer Guardiola a surprise option if the senior coaches feel he is ready. Guardiola has mentioned the reliance on Erling Haaland this season, and City have no other recognised senior striker at the club.

As well as O'Reilly and Mubama, the Forest win saw Jahmai Simpson-Pusey earn a start after a recent spell with the senior team. Simpson-Pusey has four first team appearances this season and has been on the bench a further five times. But like O'Reilly, he has been restricted to just 21 minutes of football in a month - off the bench against Feyenoord when City were 3-0 up and seemingly coasting.

Wilson-Esbrand and Wright are others with limited action due to their first team call-ups, with U21 head coach Ben Wilkinson explaining the benefits and negatives of having a senior coaching staff so close to the academy.

"It's very game by game. We meet regularly to discuss what the week looks like, what the day looks like for all of those players," he told MEN Sport last week. "At the minute the circumstances are quite obvious in that we've got a lot of players injured. Jahmai started against Sporting Lisbon. A lot of them have made appearances this year in the Champions League. So it's something that we're used to and really comfortable with in terms of managing what the first team circumstances look like, what the player needs in terms of minutes and football.

"For us, whichever way that coin falls, it doesn't really matter. If we have those players, then it probably makes the team a bit older and a bit more experienced. If it goes the other way, we've got some really talented young players who it gives them the opportunity to play maybe a little bit earlier than expected. But like I said earlier, hopefully, we'll see the benefit of that in a couple of years."