Aston Villa fell to a 4-2 defeat against Southampton in the Under-18 Premier League South on Saturday.
The Young Lions fell behind midway through the first half at Bodymoor Heath, only to respond quickly courtesy of Ben Broggio.
Yet Saints hit back on the stroke of half-time to lead at the break, and then established a two-goal advantage in the 54th minute thanks to Tommy-Lee Higgs’ second of the game.
Villa, who triumphed 4-0 over Southampton in last weekend’s U18 Premier League Cup quarter-final, struck again through Charlie Lutz to make it 3-2 shortly afterwards but the visitors added a fourth in the latter stages to inflict defeat.
Southampton opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 21st minute, Joe Andrews converting the rebound after goalkeeper Alex Hammond had saved his initial strike following a foul on Alfie Prescott.
Abube Onuchukwu struck the outside of a post before Villa levelled with a well-taken low strike by Broggio from the edge of the penalty area.
Hammond made a superb one-handed save to deny Higgs, while opposite number Josh Jeffries made an equally impressive stop to thwart Lutz at the other end.
Yet Saints pounced on a defensive error from Jack McDowell to take the lead just before the break, the centre-back’s short back pass allowing Higgs to pounce, subsequently round Hammond and slot home.
The visitors struck a post before Higgs added a third nine minutes after the restart, chesting home and slotting into the net.
Lutz responded two minutes later to put Villa back within one goal of parity.
But the contest was put beyond doubt in the 80th minute as Will Merry added a fourth for the visitors, who went on to secure all three points.
