Northampton Town's youth team welcomed Southend United to Moulton College in the EFL Youth Alliance on Saturday.
The Cobblers battled back from 2-0 down to earn a draw, Ryan Hughes and Morgan Roberts on target for Jon Brady's side.
"It was a very uncharacteristically slow start from us and we were 2-0 down after 25 minutes," he said.
"We managed to get a foothold in the game after that and the boys showed incredible character to come back.
"I was pleased with their reaction and in the end we could have won it but we have learned some very valuable lessons, we can't expect to start a game like that and still expect to get something out of it."