ST PAUL’S striker Luke Watson scored Jersey under-18s’ only goal in their 4-1 defeat by FA Youth Academy leaders Southampton Football Club yesterday.

On the final day of their four-day educational and two-match tour to Southampton, Jon Welsh’s Jersey Football Association under-18s team gave a good account of themselves against high-quality opponents.Welsh said: ‘We surprised them early on with Luke’s well-taken goal, and then Brett Pitman should have made it 2-0 but he side-footed his effort just wide of the post.

Normally you’d put your house on Brett taking a chance like that, but unfortunately this time his missed the target.’Danny Hughes sent in a long diagonal ball through Southampton’s defence and Luke spun well before producing a composed finish by lifting the ball over the goalkeeper’s head.’It was a great start, but it was obvious that Southampton would come back because they are top of their league.

They were impressive to watch, played with a good pace, their movement was excellent and they moved the ball quickly.’We had some very good periods of possession, too, but the difference was we would lose the ball when we tried to take a player on, whereas they passed us by stroking the ball around.’They also had a very quick 15-year-old – he’s the quickest player in their club, at any age – and we didn’t mark him tightly enough.

But it was a learning experience, and although we were on the back foot a lot, we kept the ball well when we had it.’At no time at all were we embarrassed or did we look out of our depth.

When we made a mistake we were punished and we will learn from that.

It was an excellent experience for the players.’Rozel first-team goalkeeper Frazer Siddall excelled with a string of fine saves to keep the young Saints at bay.Under-18s: Frazer Siddall, Danny Hughes, Nathan Jégou, Tom Poole, David Syvret, Neil Crowell, Stephen Purdie, Ryan Durand, Peter Vincenti, Jamie Allan, Luke Watson, Matt Purdie, Sam Dewhurst, Brett Pitman, Bradley Russell and Carl Stoodley.Meanwhile Jersey’s Primary School football squad ended their four-match tour to the south of England with a defeat yesterday afternoon.The Island side turned in a below-par performance compared with their previous three games to slip to a 3-0 defeat against Poole and East Dorset.Jersey coach Mark De Luca, who was assisted by Tony Hoyland, said: ‘It really was a terribly disappointing game for us, we played as 11 individuals and not a team.

I don’t know why, but we were disorganised.

We didn’t gel at all and we failed to get the ball out wide, which is one of the team’s strengths.’We return to Poole for a regional seven-a-side tournament in a couple of weeks, so it was a golden opportunity to make our mark in the area, but we just didn’t take it.’Yet we had prepared well.

We’d had a great morning watching Southampton’s first team train and the players were relaxed because we had a great question and answer session with Graeme Le Saux.’I don’t think our players were tired, either, because all 15 players in the squad were used, so they were given rests.’Our opponents were the same standard as us and on the day they won because they were the better team.

Our goalkeepers, Aidan McGuire and Will Falle, both acquitted themselves well while defenders Toby Goar and Johnny Ward were excellent.

The remainder all played below par.’But overall, it’s been another excellent tour and the behaviour of the group has been impeccable.’Jersey drew 2-2 in their opening fixture on Saturday against Gosport and Fareham before beating Newbury 2-1 on Sunday.

Jersey’s first defeat came on Monday, by a single goal, against Vale of White Horse.Following the regional sevens on 6 March, Jersey host Guernsey in the inter-insular on 28 March, before competing in the Primary Schools’ annual Festival of Football at the FB Fields at Easter.Primary Schools: Aidan McGuire (De La Salle), Richard Sinel (FCJ), Kamen Nafka (Grouville), Blake Derbyshire (St Luke), Toby Goar (St Michael), Johnny Ward (St Peter), Scott Johnson (Rouge Bouillon), William Falle (Victoria College Prep), Harrison Jukes, Jake Baker, Jamie Bowkett (all St Saviour), Daniel Wilkes (St Martin), Jo Parkinson (St Lawrence), Kurtis Guthrie (Plat Douet) and Clayton Romeril (First Tower).