An experimental Town U21 side was beaten 3-1 at Leiston's Watson & Hillhouse Victory Road Stadium in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday evening. Sid Eldred gave John McGreal's side a half-time lead but the hosts hit back with strikes from George Quantrell, Ethan Oldman, and Ben Fowkes.
The Blues, who were playing in their new away kit, started with four trialists on show alongside some of the young pros and scholars who evidently haven't made the trip to Canada. Leon Elliott - a new signing from Crystal Palace over the summer - started at right-back.
In a fairly cagey opening to the game, both sides had an attempt on goal inside the first ten minutes - Sid Eldred heading over for Town and Jamar Loza firing over for the home side.
Leiston came within inches of opening the scoring on 25 when a neat short corner routine found Fowkes, whose curling effort clipped the bar on its way over.
However, Town's youngsters went ahead three minutes before half-time when a right-sided cross wasn't cleared and the ball fell kindly to Eldred, who saw his deflected shot glance off the inside of a post before the ball found the net.
Gerrard Buabo impressed up front with some good hold-up play and bursts forward, but he was replaced at the break in what was presumably a pre-planned substitution following a lengthy injury lay-off.
The Blues nearly doubled their lead shortly after the restart but Will Unadike's first-time volley from a trialist's cross was smartly saved by home keeper Billy Johnson, before the rebound was eventually lifted over the bar.
On 56 a long ball over the top caught the Town backline out and despite various appeals for offside, Quantrell ran through and produced a good finish to find the far bottom corner of the net and level the scores.
Just eight minutes later the Southern League Premier Division Central side took the lead. A wide free-kick caused issues in the Town box and after an initial shot was blocked, Oldman side-footed the ball home with the aid of a slight deflection.
Both sides had started to make a raft of substitutions which rather disrupted not just the flow of the game, but particularly Town's play as they struggled to create many more chances themselves, whilst coming under increasing pressure from Leiston.
On 71 the hosts sealed the win with a third goal, which was created by former Town youngster Jack Manly. He burst forward and played the ball out wide to Fowkes, and the striker cut inside before hitting a fine shot beyond the trialist keeper.
The last action to note was in the final few minutes when Quantrell attempted an audacious chip from the corner of the box, which landed on top of the crossbar.
It was evident as they grew more into the game that this was Leiston's third pre-season fixture, while it was the first for quite a few of the young Blues, who ended the game with six of the new intake of first-year scholars on the pitch.
The next fixture for Town's U21s is over in Canada as the squad taht made the trip face Middlesbrough on Sunday afternoon in the International Summer Series pre-season tournament.
U21s: Trialist (Fletcher 87), Elliott (McCann 60), Jambang, Iorpenda (Sains 72), O'Connor, Longwe (Compton 72), Trialist (Trialist 60), Trialist (Frith 54), Buabo (Unadike 46), Eldred, Trialist. Att: 107.