Nigel Pearson claims his Bristol City side are lacking enough established Championship players required to challenge for the top flight following defeat against promotion-chasing Luton.
Although the Robins manager did highlight the progression made in his squad this year because they are now in a position where they are not actively looking to move players on following four departures in the January window.
The 1-0 defeat to Luton on Wednesday night night, albeit with a threadbare squad, was evidence of the further improvements that need to be made if City are to build a side capable of challenging for the top six.
The Hatters, who based on their wage expenditure and financial resources are overachieving once again in fourth position, were dominant in the first half with City fortunate to head into half-time just a goal behind. The visitors improved after the break but were still second best on the evening with their opportunities limited to mostly long-range efforts.
"We know they are quite a direct and physically quite a strong side," Pearson said after the game. "You have to remember we have a long way to go in terms of getting players who are very established at this level.
"A lot of our players are not established Championship players but I think they are doing well. I think they are doing fine. We've been a bit unlucky with injuries recently.
"They'll be some clubs who have too many players and they'll have to occupy them by not taking them on matchdays and that can take a lot of energy in football clubs."
City had a blend of youth and experience in their squad last night with the likes of Andy King, Andi Weimann, Nahki Wells and Jay Dasilva all established Championship players. However, Sam Bell, Omar Taylor-Clarke and George Tanner are all still finding their feet at this level while Mark Sykes is making his debut campaign in the second tier. Anis Mehmeti has only had one season at this level while playing for Wycombe while Cam Pring and Alex Scott only broke into the side last campaign.
City strengthened their squad during the January transfer window with Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick both starting at Kenilworth Road. Pearson recently described the outgoings of Han-Noah Massengo, Chris Martin, Dan Bentley and Timm Klose as "brilliant business" having been able to reduce the wage bill while allowing players to leave who don't necessarily want to be at the club.
"We've made progressions this year because we don't have players at the club now that we're actively looking to move on," he added. "We have players who want to be at the club and that's a real positive. We have a lot of talented young players, yes we need to make further additions this summer to give us strength in certain areas of the pitch.
"Whether that be at the minute, as it stands in our defensive ranks we will need to make some additions there, but we've made some good progress this year. We're now in a position where the changes that we've made will be positive ones.
"We want to be in the Premier League but we're a long way away from that at the moment."
Head of Recruitment Brian Tinnion confirmed City have four transfer targets they will immediately pursue at the end of the season, with the club having the luxury of money to spend following Antoine Semenyo's £10.5million sale to Bournemouth and Alex Scott's expected departure.
When addressing the club's transfer strategy, he suggested City will pursue experienced players in League One and Two who haven't had their opportunity in the Championship.
He told BBC Radio Bristol: "They'll all be on the up, they'll all be young, they'll all be athletic and be able to run because that's what our team is going to be based on now. There's some really good players in League One that just need an opportunity.
"What we're looking for are players who have maybe played 200 games and who have the experience but just haven't had the opportunity to play in the Championship so we're very clear on what we want."
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