BURY youth and academy manager Mark Litherland claims the under-18s will learn a lot from Tuesday night's defeat in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup final.

They lost out 4-2 on penalties at Gigg Lane to current North West EFL Youth Alliance leaders Blackpool.

The final ended 2-2 after normal time after Ryan Kidd's young Shakers were twice pegged back.

Joe Adam, who has been with Bury since he was nine years old, opened the scoring for the hosts on four minutes.

After the Seasiders drew level, Ryan Cooney restored the advantage with a fine header from a corner.

Blackpool equalised again late on and carried that momentum into the penalty shootout.

Despite the defeat, Litherland was proud of the team's performance.

“The lads were fantastic,” he told the Bury Times. “We only had one training session together as we are virtually running as an under-17s squad this season.

“The overall performance will have sent shockwaves through the league because most of this squad will be playing again next year.

“We had four members of the under-16s playing in Joe Adam, Callum Hulme, Saul Shotton and Will Ferry.

“Will even turned down a chance to play for Republic of Ireland Under-18s to play in this cup final.”