Carlisle United youth team boss Mark Birch believes his side will learn from last night’s extra-time defeat in the FA Youth Cup.
The young Blues lost 4-2 after extra-time in the third round tie against Plymouth Argyle at Brunton Park.
Speaking to CUTV after the game he said: “I’m just disappointed to be honest, I think what we took out of the game is key moments.
“We just lost a little bit of concentration, a little bit of composure but I suppose that’s what you get with young players and it’s something that we’re going to learn from going forward.
“Credit to the lads, I’d say we got ourselves in a position with what, four to five minutes to go, that we were quite comfortable and then again it’s a key moment.
“I think we lost the middle of the park where we can win a lot of second balls, they play forward early and then we’ve got nobody to pick up the second ball in the middle of the park.
“We’ve just been talking to the lads about that in key moments of games. You can play all the good football, you can pass it around but in big moments and big games that’s when it’s won or lost.
“I thought from a youth game of football, I think both teams come out with a fair bit of credit. I think both teams gave absolutely everything and made a good game of it.
“You really cannot fault the lads but I’d say both teams as well, you’ve got to give them a bit of credit for the distance they’ve travelled and I thought it was a good game of youth football.”
He went on: “It’s all about development for these lads. It’s all about learning and having them winning and losing feelings and taking it forward into the career.
“The under-16s have come in and done themselves credit but they’ve got another two years and it stands us in good stead that now we’ve got some first years coming in next year who’ve had the ups and downs of Youth Cup football.”
