SAINTS B team boss Dave Horseman admits some of his young players missed the chance to impress against Brighton at St Mary's, but insisted: "It's all part of the learning experience."

A host of first-team squad players including Ibrahima Diallo, Michael Obafemi, Yan Valery and Will Smallbone were among those to start for Saints against the Seagulls in the Premier League 2 clash.

But Brighton's under-23s, who themselves gave minutes to some senior players such as Colombia internationals Steven Alzate and Jose Izquierdo, ran out 1-0 winners with Max Sanders netting the only goal.

"Obviously a disappointing result and a bit of a disjointed performance," Horseman told the Saints website.

"The (first team) boys were dropped in because we just want to top up some match minutes and give them match time. We can see that doing that will be a benefit to them long term, but the initial bit was just a little bit disjointed.

"Probably lacked a bit of the intensity that we were after and a few organisational bits against the ball, which we corrected at half-time and were better second half, without being brilliant.

"I think they had one shot and scored in the top corner. We had three or four, so it was a battle. It wasn't a great game. I think we've had better games recently, but there's sometimes a bigger purpose to these games and match minutes for people that haven't had so many, that's useful."

Nathan Tella came closest to equalising for Saints, while Dan N'Lundulu also blazed wide in the second half.

And Horseman says the game was good for first-team boss Ralph Hasenhuttl to see who could step into his side.

He said: “It’s also useful for the manager and his staff to see who is ready to go in if called upon and needed.

“Then it’s obviously for us to be able to work out a plan on how to make individuals better and where they need to be in terms of games to be ready later on.

“Allan (Tchaptchet) for example who was one of the younger players, performed okay and he’s not played at St Mary’s many times. He’s definitely not played under the lights and against some Premier League players.

“It was a really good experience. The club do brilliantly to put these games on and to give the boys the best chance.

“I don’t think they particularly took it (on Monday), but it’s all part of the learning experience for young players and they need to come back and bounce back quick and show what good players they actually are.”

Saints B head to Manchester United on Friday.