Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman knows what he will have to do this summer.

Benterman handed a number of players who had been impressing in the club’s reserves this year a debut in their Thurlow Nunn League division one game against Downham Town last weekend.

And while some successfully made the step up, it proved too much for others as Halstead lost 5-1 to the same side they had beaten 6-0 at the start of the season and dropped to tenth in the division one standings.

Benterman said he didn’t regret putting out the inexperienced side, though, as he had learned a lot from it.

He said: “It was certainly a learning experience and while you don’t want to go down to a 5-1 defeat, there were positives to take from it.

“It was hard for the young boys to make the step up but we wanted to have a look at some of our youth products.

“We knew that, whatever the result, we would know more at five o’clock on Saturday than we knew at three o’clock.

“What we learned was that we do need to recruit in the summer and that will give these boys a chance to be nurtured further in the reserves so we can bring them in properly when the time is right for them."

Halstead are due to travel to March Town United in the league today.