SAINTS B head coach Dave Horseman said his rotated squad’s “proud” performance in a 7-1 victory over Colchester United was “years in the making”.

The young Saints side made it four consecutive wins in the Premier League Cup and booked their spot in the knockout rounds of the tournament.

Horseman had as many as 14 players unavailable due to an upcoming FA Youth Cup contest and first-team training commitments.

He watched on, with senior manager Nathan Jones in attendance, as three youngsters made their B team debuts – Alfie Prescott, Tommy Dobson-Ventura and Jay Robinson.

Read more: Lawrie McMenemy: Full marks to Gareth Southgate and England

Robinson, who is just 15 years old, scored his first goal while a Sam Bellis hat-trick, Will Merry brace and Luke Pearce finish secured a comeback victory.

“It was certainly a roller coaster but what we understand is that this group have never even trained together before, some people haven’t even seen each other,” Horseman told the Daily Echo.

“I haven’t even seen Tommy (Dobson-Ventura) much, a few under-16s games, but we’ve not worked together so some of the connections weren’t there and we were a bit disappointed with the first 15 minutes.

“A lot of the chances came because of a poor touch, but these guys are 15 or 16 so they’re probably nervous playing here. With all the nerves going around, we were very grateful to Willy (Caballero) for making a few saves and you see the value of a good goalkeeper, he kept us in the game.

“Him and Olly (Lancashire) after 15 minutes really got hold of the group, gave them some good information, and I think that really made the difference. Then we got some ball wins and they didn’t look back from there, they were ruthless.”

The seamless nature with which players as young as under-16s stars can come into the under-21s group – which is already among the youngest in England – is testament to coaches across the academy.

“It's really pleasing for the club and all the academy staff to produce these players, who are 15 and can step out against a couple of Football League players,” Horseman added.

“There’s a lot of brilliant work that is done all the way from the talent centres to us and we’re lucky we get to pick up the good ones at the end. It’s a proud night for the club.

“We’re really lucky but we have to keep pushing as the gulf from the talented players in the Premier League is still so big, so they have a long way to go.

As a club, we have a really strong culture – we have the Southampton way – we have really strong culture so taking 14 players out of the B team and you put the following 11 on, it still looks like a Southampton team.

“That’s been years in the making. This match was probably the one where I wasn’t sure what we would get out of it but you look and see there are some really good things going on.”

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