Stewart Henderson felt that his side were given a good workout against Farnborough but was still unhappy to have lost the game.

A 2-1 defeat at Cherrywood Road exposed one or two frailties but there were plenty of things to take from the game according to Henderson.

"I'm disappointed that we lost the game," he said. "However, goals change games. We had a couple of good chances before they scored, then they got a penalty and a second one before Jake scored a wonder goal which unfortunately came too late for us.

"I was pleased with the effort from a lot of the young boys, they worked hard and played reasonably well at times, but they've got to learn and be a bit stronger in certain situations."

New Saints boss Alan Pardew was watching on form the stands and Henderson felt that he will have been pleased with some of the application that his players showed.

"We just reminded players what they've got to do to get into the first team, but I think that one or two came out of the game quite well," he explained.

"I thought that Morgan Schneiderlin was excellent, he got on the ball, played and made good use of it which is what he's capable of doing because he's a very good footballer.

"He's learning about the other side of the game from an attacking sense and also from his defensive responsibilities when we're out of possession, he played very well tonight and made a good impression.

"Oscar Gobern also did well," Henderson continued. "He's getting stronger and could threaten the first team. His best position is still debatable, last season he played very well in the centre of midfield but he can play on the left side and at left back if we're really short, but I think he did well tonight.

"Marek Saganowski needed to play, tonight he's put in a good shift , worked hard and had one or two half chances, and we know what he's capable of."

The game ended with Saints fielding eight Academy players in the ten outfield positions and Henderson believes it will have been a good experience for them. He did have some sympathy for Ryan Tafazolli though, who conceded a penalty after coming on as a half-time substitute.

"I think he learnt that any tug of the shirt with a large crowd shouting behind him means that it invariably goes one way, but he's got to learn the difference between being tight to strikers and being too close.

"Their strikers caused us problems all night and we said in the dressing room that you need to as a defender dictate to them and not let them dictate to you.

"Farnborough haven't put all this in place and got poor players," Henderson added. "They've got players who have played at a higher level than the Conference, we knew that before we came here and that's why we knew it was going to be a good test for us."

The Academy coach also reserved praise for Jake Thomson's goal which would have graced any football ground.

"You won't see many better than that. He saw the 'keeper off his line and it's not as if he was a small lad either, so to do what he did was really an incredible piece of finishing."