Colchester United U18s fell to a narrow defeat against Burnley on Saturday, as the visitors turned the game around to collect all three points.
On a breezy afternoon at the training ground, the visitor started well, but found themselves repelled by Billy Cracknell, who twice blocked Burnley efforts to keep the school at 0-0.
Jake Hutchinson had a header cleared as the U's grew into the game, but they then had to deal with three quarters of the game without their captain as Josh Fouche went off with a wrist injury.
The U's took the lead just after the half hour mark, as a cross from Harvey Sayer saw Todd Miller arriving to steer home an excellent shot.
However, Burnley were level on the stroke of half time.
Mike Fowler nipped in to steal the ball in the U's defensive third before driving home a shot past Chandler Hallett.
The U's were not too downhearted by that equaliser and started the second half strongly.
Al-Amin Kazeem and Miller were combining well in the second half, but Burnley stood strong to ensure the scores remained level.
And the Clarets got their noses in front for the first time on 54 minutes as Rhys Fenlon slotted past Hallett to make it 2-1.
The U's pressed and probed in the remainder of the game, but the visitors held firm to take all three points.
U's: Hallett, Michaels, Cracknell, Fouche (Sayer 23), Kazeem, Hasanally, Cornish, Kennedy, Maughn (Cooke 84), Hutchinson, Miller (Gray 81)
Sub not used: Collins