Willie Donachie:

""It's very disappointing but it's no catastrophe because we're still playing good teams - Manchester City are in it, Blackburn, Crystal Palace, Fulham - so the standard will still be high, but it is very disappointing after the start we had.

"Basically it's down to injuries, players out on loan, players with the first-team. The team has been very depleted but I don't want to make excuses because we've still got 11 players against their 11 and I felt we should have done better than we did.

"But they tried their best and kept working and at 2-0 we still thought we had a chance of getting something out of the game. Unfortunately they got a goal just after half-time. We got one back and it looked like we could do something but then they got another goal.

"A lot of it, again, was down to inexperience at the back. Steve Logan has played most of his career in midfield, up-front, centrally - now he's playing right-back. Kitch (Alex Kitchen) is just learning the game, an Academy player. Michael Riley... they're all young, just learning.

"In midfield we had two young players, Dennis (Knight) and Brandon (Miele) who haven't had a lot of games this season so it's good for them to get the experience and it's great that they didn't give up. They kept trying.

"The first goal was a long ball; they just put one in behind us, the guy got a run on Steve (Logan), went past him and crossed. That was really a little bit against the run of play.

"Then their second goal was a one in a hundred goal - he's hit it from 25 yards, top corner. After that we really pressed them and did a lot of good work. It's just a shame we didn't get one goal back so at half-time it was 2-0 and I was confident we could score goals against them.

"But sadly we didn't start the second half very well and they got a third goal. Adam (Campbell) scored for us, which was great and it was great to see him back again. We wanted to bring him on when the game settled down a bit but because we were losing 2-0 I thought we'd get him on and that was fine and he handled it really well.

"He's looked sharp in training, he's a very quick, intelligent player and he just needs to keep working and he'll be a player.

"As the game went on, they got stronger and our lads tired. They got another goal and then another goal and it looked worse than it was because in big parts of the game we were the better team or at least as good as them."

"It's been like that all season - when we've lost a lot of goals, he's (Alnwick) made a lot of good saves and again it's a shame for Jak, but he's getting a lot of good experience and a lot of practice."

The first half of our maiden season in the U21 Premier Reserve League concluded on Monday evening with a heavy loss at the Silverlake Stadium of Blue Square South side Eastleigh Town.

And although the final score hardly reflects the overall balance of the contest, there was only ever going to be one side doing victory rolls at the home of the Spitfires, as the Saints ensured their place in the Elite Round - aided by Tottenham's 3-0 success away to Villa on the same night.

The Magpies by contrast finished their 12 game season sixth out of seven sides in National Group 2 and will compete in a newly-formed Tier 2 group, with six other low-ranking sides from the other groups.

     
Southampton started brightly and Ben Reeve shot against a post on eight minutes as both sides tried to adjust to a surface that passed an earlier pitch inspection, but was being worked on until kickoff and sanded in some areas.

United looked to have come through unscathed though and had two chances of their own around the 20 minute mark - JJ Hooper heading Marcus Maddison's corner over and Romain Amalfitano getting sight of goal in the box, but seeing his effort deflected for another flag kick. 

That all counted for nothing though when Southampton took a 23rd minute lead thanks to a close-range shot from striker Tadanari Lee and when Sam Hoskins rifled home from distance just four minutes later, the Saints looked well on their way to doing the double over us.

Coach Peter Beardsley's response was to replace Dennis Knight - who had seen one shot beaten away with the score at 0-1 - with fit-again Adam Campbell. However it was his strike partner Hooper who came closest to reducing the arrears in the 43rd minute, 'keeper Cody Cropper blocking his effort after an astute pass from the lively Marcus Maddison.  

Any thoughts of a second half resurgence from the black and whites were extinguished barely a minute after the restart when Ben Reeves took advantage of some slack defending to net with a rising shot from 12 yards

Adam Campbell managed to reduce the arrears on 53 minutes, claiming his sixth goal of the season when a shot from distance ended up in the net thanks to a sizeable deflection from the unwitting Stephens.

However the Saints looked as if they could up the tempo if required and restored their two-goal advantage within eight minutes when Sam Hoskins turned his marker on the edge of the box and drew Jak Alnwick before firing in.

Ben Reeves grabbed his second of the evening and Southampton's fifth in the final minute to complete the scoring. Again the goal came after  our defence was outwitting by some good close control and a neat exchange of passes - things that United seldom achieved all night, with the contributions of alleged first teamers Mehdi Abeid and Romain Amalfitano especially fitful. 

Final confirmation of the dates, venues and opponents of the second 12 game league of the season is yet to be announced, but it looks as if we'll be facing Stoke City, Norwich City, Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Reading and Bolton Wanderers in 2013. 

Curtis Good, JJ Hooper and Marcus Maddison all played under the terms of their current loan deals at Bradford City, Workington and Blyth Spartans respectively, while Conor Newton is believed to be training with SPL outfit St. Mirren.