DAVID Horseman watched his Saints B team crumble to a three-goal home defeat in their opening Premier League 2 game but praised Dynel Simeu, saying: “You can see today he had determination, speed, and intensity about him. I think our lads can learn from that.”

Horseman’s young Saints lost 3-0 to Norwich in the first game of the PL2 Division Two season, after relegation from the top-flight of youth football during last season – while they often operated with a reduced squad due to unexpected first-team commitments.

New summer-signing Simeu, 19, partnered experienced defender Olly Lancashire in the centre of defence, who too was brought into the setup this season.

Despite shipping three goals and suffering a dismal defeat at the hands of the Canaries, Horseman still called out ex-Chelsea Simeu for praise.

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He said: “There was loads of good bits, people like Dynel have come in from a good academy which win.

“You can see today he had determination, speed, and intensity about him, which suggests he comes from a team that wins. I think our lads can learn from that.

“Some of them are still finding their relationships, of course that’s always the case, particularly with the pre-season we’ve had – so that will happen as the season goes on.

“So they have been a good addition and there will be some good players in there.”

However, Horseman recognised the nature of the defeat, which sae Abu Kamara score a hattrick including two from the penalty spot, and admitted he felt “massive frustration.”

He added: “We looked to win the ball off their six, I think we did it 20 times, we were running that three v three at the backline and that quality today, from players we think have got quality, just wasn’t there in the critical moments between the teams.

“They had maybe four or five shots in the game, we given two soft penalties away with bad individual errors but the critical moments where people get paid a lot of money to produce they failed us today.

“Now we’re into the season they have to produce, the demand on them, they know exactly we play, but today when it mattered they didn’t produce.”