BURY Youth coach Ryan Kidd was proud of his young players despite defeat in the FA Youth Cup at Manchester United on Tuesday.

The Shakers battled bravely at Old Trafford before losing by a narrow 1-0 scoreline in the third-round tie.

And Kidd says it is a sign of the performance level the team are at that they were left disappointed to lose to a United academy side regarded as one of the best in the country.

He told Bury Times: “The lads are used to winning so they were disappointed in the dressing room on Tuesday and that says a lot when you think we played against Manchester United.

“I was really proud of the lads – they went toe-to-toe with one of the best academy sides in the country and gave it a real good go.

“They started nervy and we spoke about that beforehand about handling the occasion and United scored early.

“They knocked us off our stride and Jack Ruddy kept us in it. The pleasing thing was the scoreline at half time and that we were still in the game.

“We spoke at half time about settling down and pushing higher up and in the second half we really went for it and had a lot of chances.

“It wasn’t to be but the lads can take great credit from their performance.”

United started brightly and the early pressure told when Zach Dearnley got in behind the Shakers defence to arrow home an unstoppable shot high past Scottish U17 keeper Jack Ruddy at his near post on 12 minutes.

Having already seen one attempt cleared off the line, United kept pressing but could not find a way past Ruddy who saved well twice with his feet and palmed away another effort from Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

After the break, though, it was Bury asking all the questions and they could easily have taken the game into extra-time.

Khalid Mohammed and Anthony Dudley both saw efforts saved while a Sam Burgess piledriver needed tipping over by Dean Henderson.

Kidd conceded the first half hour probably cost his side the chance to progress but knows they can take positives from the game.

He also thanked more than 1,000 fans who made the trip and outnumbered the home fans in a crowd of 2,131.

Kidd added: “The crowd gave the lads amazing support on an awful night with the rain and I am grateful for that.

“I’m sure they were as proud of the players as the staff were.”