Huddersfield Town's under-18 side put in their most dominant performance of the FA Premier Academy League season so far against League leaders Nottingham Forest at Storthes Hall on Saturday morning but went down 3-1 due to the clinical finishing of the visitors.

Graham Mitchell's side enjoyed large periods of possession and missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, but only had Danny Barlow's first-half goal to show for it.

Town lined up in a 4-3-3 formation at the start of the game, with England under-17 'keeper Alex Smithies playing in goal ahead of being on the bench for the first-team later that day. He was protected by a back four of, from left to right; Liam Ridehalgh, Daniel Codman, Leigh Franks and recent Reserve-team debutant Jack Hunt. Curtis Roberts, Lewis Nightingale and under-16 player James Spencer combined to make the midfield three behind central forward Barlow, the right-sided Dave Heagney and Tom Jackson on the left.

Forestwent 2-0 up after goals on the half-hour and on 35 minutes but Danny Barlow (pictured) gave the young Terriers hope going into the interval with his excellent 40^th minute strike. The young striker received the ball on the edge of the visitor's box from Tom Jackson and showed good skill before drilling the ball past the Forest 'keeper from 12 yards.

A half-time switch to 4-4-2 heralded even more possession for the home side but despite the domination, Town couldn't get back on level terms and in fact conceded another when pushing for an equaliser.

Despite the defeat, under-18 boss Mitchell - who played over 300 times for Town between 1986 and 1994 - was pleased with his side's performance.

"It's the first time this season that I can say we dominated the entire game. We've had dominating spells in most of the games that we have played this season, but we had the majority of the possession for the entire game.

"We were just missing that little bit of luck in the final third, but it was a really good performance against a strong Forest side."

Town's Team:

Alex Smithies, Jack Hunt, Liam Ridehalgh (Stephen Brook 46), Curtis Roberts (Daniel Broadbent 46), Leigh Franks, Daniel Codman, James Spencer, Lewis Nightingale, Danny Barlow, Dave Heagney (Luke Durham 70), Tom Jackson

Unused Sub: Chris Pert

Check htafc.com on Wednesday for more build-up towards Thursday's FA Youth Cup sponsored by E.ON First Round match against Hartlepool United at the Galpharm Stadium (7pm kick-off).