Coach Shane Goddard says that a young Northampton Town Under 18s team will learn from their defeat away to Desborough Town’s first team on Tuesday night.
Ayo Lekuti scored the young Cobblers’ goal to equalise after Ar Tarn took an early lead, but the hosts dominated the second half to secure a comfortable win.
Speaking after the match, Goddard said: “There’s been so many little wins tonight for our young players.
“None of them looked out of place competing against senior players.
“It’s not about results at this point of the season.
“There are things that I’m really happy about tonight, but I don’t think we met the principles of how we want to play.
“There’s trade-offs in terms of good things and things that we need to be better at.
“It’s now about what we learn from tonight and take into Saturday.”
First team call ups meant that Goddard was forced into naming a young side.
He added: “We’ve got to look at tonight as a positive night.
“We had a really young group playing a senior team here and five second years in the first team squad.
“It’s so good for our young players to get these opportunities and showcase what they’re about.
“Some of the Under 16s have put themselves into contention to be in and around the Under 18s squad because we know that they can handle it at this level.”
The youth team host Kettering Town Under 18s in their final pre-season friendly at the weekend.