Town went down 1-0 against visitors Southampton in the U21 Premier Cup despite having several goalscoring chances in the first-half.

Balint Bajner, Alex Henshall and Cameron Stewart all started for Blues alongside trialist Sean St. Ledger, who completed the 90 minutes.

Sam McQueen scored the vital goal for the visitors, bending the ball around Michael Crowe, as Town paid the price for those missed chances.

Blues had the better of the early exchanges with Ben Wyatt sending a shot from the edge of the area high over the bar, then Stewart hitting a shot wide of the left post.

Saints had an opportunity as Ryan Seagers saw his shot well blocked by Matthew Clarke, who threw his body in front of the ball to deflect it wide for a corner.

Town skipper Clarke was then involved at the other end, heading Henshall’s corner wide at the back post.

Blues continued to pile on the pressure but spurned another chance, this time Bajner fired over after Paulo Gazzaniga parried Stewart’s long range effort into the striker’s path.

The deadlock was almost broken on the half hour mark as Josh Emmanuel squared the ball to Victor Guldbrandsen on the edge of the box but his shot went over the bar.

The Saints came to life late in the first-half and Crowe was forced into two good saves from Omar Rowe and Lloyd Isgrove, whilst St. Ledger did well to block Rowe’s effort from the edge of the box.

Stewart continued to cause the Saints’ defence problems and had a shot well held by the acrobatic Gazzaniga, who dived high to his left to claim the ball.

Southampton grew into the game and on 65 minutes they broke the deadlock. 

Two step-overs from McQueen saw him past Clarke and into the box before he sent the ball curling round Crowe into the net to give his side a place in the next round. 

Town: Crowe, Emmanuel, Wyatt, Guldbrandsen, St. Ledger, Clarke, Stewart (Galvin 68), Benyu, McQueen, Bajner, Henshall. Subs not used: Marsden, Robinson, McLoughlin, Ford.

Att: 323