Manchester City coach Lee Carsley is confident there's more to come from his side as they earned a 1-1 draw in The FA Youth Cup Final first leg against holders Chelsea.
Both sides hit the post in the opening half before Callum Hudson-Odoi calmly laid the ball off to Ike Ugbo, who smashed the ball home from the 12 yards to put Chelsea ahead.
But Phil Foden fired home a second-half equaliser for City who are aiming to win The FA Youth Cup for the first time since 2008 and deny Chelsea a fourth successive trophy.
And Carsley is excited to see what his squad can deliver in the second leg which takes place at Stamford Bridge next Wednesday.
"We are going to have to be at our best to get any sort of result at Stamford Bridge, the big positive is we had chances in the first half and we can play a lot better than we did," said Carsley.
"We have more in the locker. I thought we were second best for the majority of the game, I thought they started well and we struggled to get hold of their system but we were better in the second half.
"There's lots to work on between now and the second leg. We struggled to keep the ball and make simple passes, it took us nearly 45 minutes to get into it.
"I just told them to relax and get on the ball and make passes and I thought we did a lot better in the second half."
Lukas Nmecha had City's best chance in the opening half but his right-footed effort struck the post when he was through on goal after 37 minutes.
Then it was Hudson-Odoi's turn to strike the woodwork as his shot from the edge of the area failed to break the deadlock but the striker would set up the first goal almost immediately.
After collecting the ball in midfield, he stormed into the City area and when his shot bounced off City keeper Arijanet Muric and the post, Hudson-Odoi laid the ball off to Ugbo who made no mistake.
Dujon Sterling then fired wide at the start of the second half and Mason Mount also missed an opportunity for the reigning champions.
And they were punished for those errors as Foden collected the ball inside the Chelsea half before driving into the penalty area and firing the ball into the bottom corner to level the tie.
Neither side was able to find a winner on the night, leaving the Final perfectly set up for the second leg in west London in just over a week's time.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Arijanet Muric; Tyreke Wilson, Ed Francis, Sadou Diallo, Demeaco Duhaney; Phil Foden, Jacob Davenport, Matt Smith; Jadon Sancho, Lukas Nmecha, Brahim Diaz
Substitutes: Bolton for Foden 85, Dele-Bashiru for Sancho 90
Substitutes not used: Jeremie Frimpong, Pawel Sokol, Lorenzo Gonzalez
Chelsea (3-4-3): Jared Thompson; Marc Guehi, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James; Juan Castillo, Tariq Uwakwe, Jacob Maddox, Dujon Sterling; Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ike Ugbo, Mason Mount
Substitutes: Harvey St Clair for Ugbo 86, Conor Gallagher for Uwakwe 90
Substitutes not used: Jamie Cumming, Joseph Colley, Cole Dasilva
