Cobblers under 18s coach Jon Brady said his side were just edged out of the tie as he reflected on Wednesday night’s FA Youth Cup first round defeat to Colchester United.
Like most clubs in League 1 and League 2, the Cobblers are a Category 3 Academy, but the Essex side are a Category 2, and Brady said with that in mind the visitors were always favourites.
“I thought Colchester were a very good side and with them being a Category 2 Academy we said it was going to be very tough,” he said.
“We showed good resolve to come back to 2-1 and make a game of it at the end but sometimes you just have to put your hands up and say you were beaten by the better team and that was the case on Wednesday night.
“Overall it was still a good experience for the boys to play at the PTS Academy Stadium but I was a little bit disappointed that the belief levels in our play didn’t seem to be there, about four or five of our team were off it a little bit and when you have that in a team you find it hard.
“It was a little bit frustrating because I believe in these boys a lot and they will be hurting that they haven’t put in the performance they know they can.
“Football turns around very quickly and we’ve got a tough game away at Southend now on Saturday, we are top of the league for a reason and hopefully we can put in a good performance there and put this behind us very quickly.”