Michael Beale was keen to take the positives from his Liverpool side's "classic" 3-3 draw with rivals Everton in the under-21s' first mini-derby of the campaign, despite throwing away a 3-0 lead.
A penalty from Harry Wilson and goals from Joao Carlos Teixeira and Sergi Canos put the young Reds well in control of the tie after 36 first-half minutes.
But after Everton captain Joe Williams pulled one back before the break, the Blues rallied thanks to some tactical changes - and they rescued a point after goals from Conor McAleny and Tom Davies.
Though many managers would have been keen to highlight the disappointments from spurning the golden opportunity to take their first three points of the season, Beale maintained his positivity - pin-pointing some of the good things from his Academy side's performance.
He said that in the first-half, Liverpool U21s "showed many of the good parts" of their game and had a "clear intent" in their attack and chance creation.
Before Canos added a third, Beale's youngsters twice hit the woodwork in quick succession - whilst the home side's goalkeeper Mateusz Hewelt was forced to make some strong saves.
The Reds boss highlighted Jack Dunn's shot, which hit the post from close-range, and a number of "incredible saves" that Hewelt got down to in order to prevent the visitors running away with the game.
Boss says Reds need to work on managing a lead in games
Beale added that Everton scored "at the right time" to give them some much-needed momentum before the interval, as David Unsworth's side came flying out of the blocks afterwards.
He likened the turnaround to the Reds' 4-4 draw versus Norwich City at Anfield on the final day of last season, as they surrendered a commanding three-goal lead to 10 men, and said the aspect of maintaing a lead is "definitely something" they have to sort out.
He said that the Reds lacked the same threat in the second-half, though they still had "good moments of possession" - which they were unable to take advantage of due to their lack of runners in behind the back-line.
Beale admitted that Everton "were worthy" of their point, insisting that the pulsating six-goal thriller was "sort of a classic" and that they must learn their lessons from it. He said they have to "understand as a whole unit that you've got to see out a game and manage space a bit better" than they did.
Asked why his side's level of performance dropped in intensity, he conceded that "one or two" of Everton's goals came when the Reds were "trying to ride tackles" when their opponents were committing.
Beale pleased with several individual showings
Nevertheless, Beale remained encouraged by what he had seen and insisted that he still didn't want to "overlook the good things" from their display.
With first-team coach Pepijn Lijnders and Academy director Alex Inglethorpe watching the Reds' reserves on from the stands, Beale said that Jordan Rossiter "was very good again" whilst Teixeira "showed what he's got" in moments - before praising the performance of defender Daniel Cleary, who he said "played well again."
On a whole, he said his side "played very well" for the majority of the game and two experienced heads in particular, Tiago Ilori and Joao Carlos Teixeira, brought a lot to the side and "acquitted themselves well."
Those who didn't feature on Wednesday night in Southport, such as Samed Yesil, took part in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Wrexham on Thursday afternoon - with the striker netting a hat-trick in a 3-1 win.