Simon Bryant was full of praise for his young players and told them they should be proud of their performance despite falling to their first defeat of the season at the hands of Sheffield FC.

Basford went behind on 25 minutes after a goalmouth scramble inside the six yard area ended with Ben Harriott stabbing the ball home.

The hosts were deservedly level on 37 minutes after Charlie Wood chested the ball down and calmly finished past the on-rushing Sheffield keeper Owen Evans.

The second half saw Basford dominate proceedings with Evans making several important saves and Sheffield skipper Jamie Cowan time his challenge perfectly to prevent Niall Hylton from giving United an almost certain lead.

With the game heading for a draw, Basford suffered what was to be the sucker punch, when substitute Ashdon Hemmings' cross was met at the back post by Oliver Hamstead who sent the ball back across goal for Harriott to head home.

"How we haven't come away from the game with at least a point is beyond me", said Bryant.

"Each and every player involved tonight can be proud of the way they have performed and like I've just said to them, they will play worse than that and get a result".

"Sheffield are a very physical side and I thought we handled their presence well.

"We limited them to very few chances and dominated for long periods.

"The boys are obviously down but they if the perform like that the results will come no doubt about it".

Next up for our Under 19's is a home fixture against Hallam FC on Friday 27th September (7.45pm Kick Off).