Noah Mawene captained Preston North End U18s in the FA Youth Cup quarter-final as they lost 3-1 to Southampton at Deepdale.
His drilled penalty on 20 minutes cancelled out Kamari Doyle’s opener for the visitors before two second-half goals saw the Saints emerge victorious.
Mawene was understandably upset with the result but believes he and his teammates gave it all they could.
“We worked really hard, and it is disappointing,” he said, speaking to iFollow PNE.
“In a quarter-final, it’s fine margins, but we can’t fault the effort to compete with that team and stay in the game as long as we did.”
The young Lilywhites had strong spells of pressure either side of the interval but ultimately couldn’t find a goal.
Mawene believes they were made to rue those missed chances, saying: “It was frustrating because we had 20 minutes where we could’ve gone ahead and killed the game off.
“But you get punished by good teams like that, so it wasn’t meant to be.”
From a personal perspective, it was the second time the midfielder has led a team out at Deepdale, and it will have been another proud day for his father, Youl.
“It was a great honour,” said the 18-year-old.
“The fans were superb today and it’s good to have the fanbase and friends here.”