Radhi Jaidi says Saints’ young guns have to use their Checkatrade Trophy collapse against Northampton as a “learning curve.”

Saints’ under-21s appeared to be cruising to victory and progression to the knockout stages of the competition as they led 3-0 at the Sixfields Stadium.

However, they conceded three goals in the final 17 minutes of the game before being beaten 4-2 on penalties to crash out at the group stage.

Under-21s boss Jaidi said: “I think obviously you can take it to different aspects but considering young boys playing against men it is a learning curve.

“It’s an opportunity for the boys to see themselves playing against older players.

“I think throughout the game we show a really good performance. A lot of good stuff in the first half, we started well, were positive, scored a goal and created a lot of chances.

“I told them at half time to keep doing the same thing and obviously manage the game because we were winning 1-0 and needed to keep the ball and be effective in the final third when we got the chance. That happened.

“The only frustrating bit is the last ten minutes or a little bit more where we conceded three goals.

“The second goal we can do nothing about, but the first on the action leading into the goal or during the goal we could have done much better.

“This is the learning curve and what the boys need to learn when you go to senior and men’s football when you do a little mistake you pay straight away.”

As well as the experience of playing against a senior side, one of the major positives to come out of the night for Saints was the performance of Jake Hesketh.

Having only recently returned from six months out due to a serious hamstring injury, he showed a mixture of skill and composed finishing to score twice and put Mauricio Pellegrino on alert.

He also showed signs that he has improved his physical strength during his lay-off, which was the major issue during his previous first team appearances.

“Happy for Jake. He showed his strength,” reflected Jaidi.

“He was a threat as always in between and behind them and he got two goals.

“We have been waiting for Jake for a long time and we have him back and we need to make sure he is fit to play 90 minutes and then he is ready for the under-23s or the seniors.”