MARK Kinsella was pleased with the positives to come from the younger players on display during Charlton’s 2-0 defeat at Barnet on Saturday.

The Addicks assistant manager took a CAFC XI to Underhill which contained just two regular first-teamers in Kelly Youga and Jose Semedo.

And although they were overwhelmed by a full-strength Bees outfit, he was delighted with some of the individual performances on display – particularly that of 17-year-olds Yado Mambo and Alex Stavrinou.

Kinsella explained: “It was about the experience our young lads got.

“You had Yado up against a 40-year-old Paul Furlong, you’ve got two young full-backs who’ve just gone pro in Jack Clark and Chris Solly, and in midfield you’ve got Alex Stavrinou trying to stamp his authority on games.

“All of these kids have come through the ranks and although we lost 2-0 and the goals could have been prevented, I thought the experience we gained will be massive for the young ones.

“This season Barnet are going to be there or thereabouts. They’ve got a strong outfit and we knew that when we came here.

“When we looked at the team sheet and who was going up against us, we knew it would be an uphill battle and I thought early on we weathered a storm a little bit.”

He added: “Looking at the battle between Mambo and Furlong, it was good to see Yado got better as the game went on and he started to get the better of him at times.

“And Stavrinou’s only a kid playing against two experienced midfielders in Micah Hyde and Mark Hughes who’ve been playing week in, week out for years.

“It’s great to put him against players like that and it was easier in the second half here when you’re playing up and down the slope.

“He’s come back from injury, so he’s only trained for the last couple of days and we’ve given him 90 minutes which he probably shouldn’t have pulled off but Stavs got better as the game progressed.

“He’s had a great pre-season so far and he’ll get better as he goes on.”

However, one of the biggest negatives was the continuing frustrations for forwards Izale McLeod and Stuart Fleetwood, who each had one chance in particular where misfortune prevented them from getting on the scoresheet.

Kinsella said: “McLeod had a good chance in the first half with the header and he missed it and it hit his shoulder.

“He had a couple where he broke through and their defenders made a couple of last-ditch tackles.

“Some of the football we played in the second half was a lot better.

“We got Fleetwood through with the ball from Stavrinou, he took it on and beat the keeper and unfortunately hit the post.

“They’re strikers and they need goals. Once they score goals, you’d like to think the floodgates will open.”