Town’s U18s ended their inaugural U18 Premier League season with an 8-3 defeat to Aston Villa at Playford Road, a result which sees them finish bottom of the table.
The visitors went ahead through Joshua Blake on seven but the Blues hit back a minute later through Jackson Nsofor, who is among those set to move on this summer.
However, Markie Meade put Villa back in front in the 14th minute, then Jahmi Kellyman made it 3-1 on 32.
Two minutes later, Sid Eldred (pictured) pulled one back for Town to leave the scoreline 3-2 at half-time.
Meade restored the Midlanders’ two-goal advantage four minutes after the restart, then Oscar Kweku made it 5-2 on 52.
Twenty minutes passed without a goal before Meade completed his hat-trick in the 72nd minute, before Heaven Kilwa made it 7-2 only two minutes later.
Eldred pulled one back for the Blues with his second of the afternoon with four minutes remaining and Villa completed the scoring with the game’s 11th goal when Daniel Adediran made it 8-3 in the fourth minute of time added on.
The defeat ends a tough first season as a category one academy for the U18s, who struggled throughout the campaign, despite an impressive FA Youth Cup run and one or two standout results, most notably a 1-0 away win at Arsenal in March and a 3-0 home derby victory over Norwich City last month.
U18s: W Fletcher, Boakye-King, Berkeley-Agyepong, Brown (Felicio 58), Wood (c), Sains, Unadike, Longwe, Eldred, Nicolaou (Enkotosia 66), Nsofor (Burton-Yurevich 58). Unused: Twyman.