It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts for the Checkatrade Trophy at The Valley, but at least the first evening provided a decent advert for Saints’ up and coming generation of talent.

The whole competition, formerly the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, has undergone a radical and controversial remodelling.

Officially this is a one year trial, and, in the eyes of the Football League clubs that voted for it, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

There was a universal acceptance that the competition needed something to spice it up.

The idea of adding teams with category one academies, essentially largely youth dominated sides of Premier League glamour teams, was deemed to be the way to go.

The format of regionalised group stages, additional points for a penalty shootout win if the scores are level, and a lot more money on offer, as well as the traditional Wembley final, were enough to get the changes passed.

Added to that was the thought that a visit from a Premier League big gun, even if the team was dominated by its youngers, would swell the crowds.

A smattering of big sides opted not to take part, and when it came to it, in the first time out at least, the crowds didn’t seem at all swollen.

The protest movement ‘B team boycott’, plus generally apathy, won the day.

At Charlton as Saints got their competition up and running, it was possible to physically count the spectators yourself half an hour before kick-off. It filled up a little for the start but not a lot.

Though there is something to be said for the principal of this change, as long as it doesn’t lead to a ‘B team creep’ into other competitions, but the whole format of the Checkatrade Trophy feels like a rush job.

Earlier in the day it was confirmed that bookings and red cards from this don’t count in any other competition, and even on the night there was uncertainty over whether the team Charlton called ‘Southampton under-23s’ on their scoreboard and in their literature, should in fact have been just Southampton.

Was this a first team debut for Alex McCarthy and six others? Or did this not count towards first team appearances? It did for Charlton after all. Can it count for one side and not the other?

But then one has the first team manager in the dugout, the other side the youth team boss.

Looking at it from a Saints point of view, the first game did tick a lot of boxes.

Martin Hunter spoke beforehand of the benefits for Saints and, though the wish to play in front of a decent crowd wasn’t really met, playing against more experienced players in a first team type setting was.

This was valuable for Saints, and it was quite right they took the chance handed to them, irrespective of the arguments. They were presented with a good opportunity to help progress their young players, and accepted it.

They started the game on the front foot, interestingly playing the 4-2-3-1 formation the first team are not these days.

Saints looked composed and controlled, good on the ball and the better team.

They should have taken the lead on 22 minutes as Harrison Reed dragged his penalty wide after Jake Hesketh had been rudely hacked down by a scything challenge.

Though chances were in short supply, Saints tested Dillon Phillips with free kicks from Sam McQueen and Jack Stephens, before Olufela Olomola really extended the Charlton stopper five minutes before the break.

His low shot from 20 years was heading for the bottom corner but Phillips did superbly to get down to his left to turn it wide while Charlton didn’t have an opportunity worthy of the name.

Charlton seemed to warm to the task a little more in the second period and were at least exerting a little pressure on the Saints backline.

Despite that, McCarthy wasn’t overly worked.

Karlan Ahearne-Grant put a shot into the side netting while McCarthy ended up making a routine save when Joshua Umerah opted to shoot rather than squaring to Brandon Hanlan who would have had the simplest of finishes.

The closing stages saw Phillips make a great save from McQueen and another more routine one from Josh Sims while an almighty scramble in the Saints area saw some heroic defending as Charlton tried to hammer the ball over the line before McCarthy smothered it to end the danger.

At the end of 90 minutes, and with Crawley having defeated Colchester in the other game affecting Saints’ group, the match at The Valley was still goalless with both teams therefore bagging a point and a penalty shootout required to secure a bonus point for one side, bizarre though that is.

After the regulation five penalties it was all square at 4-4 with Jack Stephens seeing his effort saved while Kevin Foley hit the bar for Charlton.

Once it went to sudden death and Ezri Konsa had netted the responsibility fell to Saints keeper McCarthy.

The new signing certainly put his foot through the ball but saw it smash the crossbar and come back out.

Saints travel to Colchester next.

Saints: McCarthy, Valery, Stephens, Jones, McQueen, Reed, Gape (O’Connor 88), Sims, Hesketh, Johnson, Olomola (N’Lundulu 87).

Charlton: Phillips, Konsa, Johnson, Lennon, Fox (Chicksen 66), Solly, Crofts (Charles-Cook 84), Foley, Hanlan, Ajose (Umerah 55), Ahearne-Grant.

Att: 1,336

Pens: Charlton 1-0 (Solly), Saints 1-0 (Stephens saved), Charlton 2-0 (Umerah), Saints 2-1 (Hesketh), Charlton 2-1 (Foley hits bar), Saints 2-2 (McQueen), Charlton 3-2 (Hanlan), Saints 3-3 (Jones), Charlton 4-3 (Ahearne-Grant), Saints 4-4 (O’Connor), Charlton 5-4 (Konsa), Saints 5-4 (McCarthy hits bar)