IT may not have been the result he wanted but Colchester United head coach John McGreal felt tonight’s Checkatrade Trophy clash with Southampton showcased the young talent in his U’s squad.

The Saints won 2-1, scoring early in both halves though Sam McQueen and Olufela Olomola, with Dion Sembie-Ferris on target for the U’s.

It means Colchester cannot now progress out of Group E South.

However, while disappointed to lose, McGreal felt there were plenty of bright performances from his young players, including the likes of Sembie-Ferris, Kane Vincent-Young, Tariq Issa and Cameron James.

“This is what we want to do at this football club – to give young boys opportunities and bring them through,” he said.

“It was an ideal opportunity to put them in and there are definitely benefits to us being in this competition.

“The result hasn’t gone our way.

“We obviously wanted to progress and get through, but it just hasn’t happened.

“I know we might be out of it now, but it’s given us a chance to blood young players.

“Look at Tariq. He came on and produced a really good 45 minutes.

“It was pretty much an under-23 squad, apart from Pross (Luke Prosser) and Ports (Chris Porter).”

McGreal was delighted for goal-scorer Sembie-Ferris, who scored his first-ever goal at senior level for the U’s.

“Dion took his chance,” said McGreal, who was unable to call on injured pair Richard Brindley and Kurtis Guthrie.

“Sammie slid him in and he took it across the keeper.

“It was something he needed, but unfortunate that he suffered an injury and had to go off.

“He’s got a really heavy dead leg.

“It’s another body down, having already lost Richard Brindley and Kurtis Guthrie from Saturday.

“He’s got a big bandage on his leg so we’ll have to see how it settles down in the 24 to 48 hours.

“Hopefully he’ll be available on Saturday.”

McGreal felt his side were unfortunate to have a goal disallowed, when keeper Harry Lewis appeared to drop the ball and it was poked home by Denny Johnstone.

However, the referee blew up for a foul on the Saints man.

“Little things like that are going against us at the moment,” he said.

“We’ve watched it back on the video and there was no contact at all.

“None of their players were complaining.

“Denny must be wondering what he has to do to score.”