THERE was pride in defeat for the Blackburn Rovers coaching staff after their young and inexperienced side suffered defeat to Southampton in their Under-21s Premier League Cup final.

After holding the hot favourites to a 0-0 draw in the first leg at Ewood Park, Rovers lost Monday’s return clash 2-1 after extra time in front of more than 12,000 supporters at St Mary’s Stadium.

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The Saints went in front in the 52nd second minute through Ryan Seager but were pegged back 17 minutes later when Matt Targett put through his own goal.

Southampton then had midfielder Harrison Reed sent off three minutes from the end of normal time before Rovers should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on substitute Hyuga Tanner.

Extra-time was then required and it was the 10-man Saints who won it in the 94th minute thanks to a sensational goal from Sam Gallacher.

“It has been a good competition for us, we have enjoyed the run, we took a top-class Under-21s side right to the wire,” said proud Rovers boss Eric Kinder, whose team’s average age was 18, two years younger than a Southampton side whose starting XI contained nine players with first-team experience.

“To take them to 2-1 after extra-time over two legs is a big credit to us, it is just a shame we just couldn’t pull it off at the end.

“It was just one goal, but what a goal.”

Rovers, whose starting XI featured just two players with senior experience, resume their U21s Premier League Division Two campaign away to Derby County on Friday (7pm).

And they will go into that match with praise ringing in their ears from Kinder’s assistant, John Filan.

“I think the lads should be very proud of themselves,” he said.

“Our aim was to win the final and we’ve run them really close.

“They gave everything and if a couple of little twists and turns had gone our way then it might have been different.

“We have beaten a couple of Premier League sides to get to the final and have run a well-renowned academy team right to the wire.

“I think sometimes you learn more from a defeat as a win can cover up things and you aren’t going to get a bigger learning curve than that out there, a cup final at a big ground in front of a big crowd.”

  • Blackburn Rovers Under-18s extended their unbeaten run to six games when they ran out 4-2 winners at home to Norwich City on Sunday thanks to a Sam Joel hat-trick and a Mark Edgar goal.