ROVERS assistant Academy director Rob Kelly has saluted his players after they made a big impression at a top Youth tournament in Holland over the weekend.

The young Rovers starlets played four games in four days -- including one against the mighty Real Madrid -- at the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam.

And they would have finished the tournament unbeaten had they not lost on penalties to Feyenoord, the competition hosts, in their final group game.

"The whole tournament was terrific for our kids," said Kelly, who took a 16-man squad to the Netherlands.

"To compete at that level and come away unbeaten was a fantastic achievement, especially as we had one of the youngest sides out there.

"The competition was actually for Under 19s.

"But seven of our squad were Under 17s and the rest were Under 18s so a lot of the other teams were far more experienced than us.

"But it was a terrific experience and that can only be great for our kids' development."

Rovers kicked off their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Supersport of South Africa with Neil Danns and Andy Bell the men on target.

Then they followed that up with a 0-0 draw against Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven before another strike from Danns put them one up against Madrid only for the Spaniards to grab a late equaliser courtesy of a dubious penalty.

In their final game of the round-robin tournament, John Fitzgerald found the net in a 1-1 draw with Feyenoord only for Rovers to eventually lose out on penalties.

"You find out a lot about your kids when you see them playing at that level and, judging by the quality of our performances, we would appear to have one or two coming through," added Kelly.

However, the one disappointing aspect of the trip was an injury to Danns which could see him sidelined for two months.

The young Rovers starlet, who had been nominated for the player of the tournament, suffered an ankle ligament injury in the 1-1 draw with Madrid which could take six weeks to heal.

Brazilian outfit America Belo Horizonte were eventually crowned champions of the overall event after beating PSV 12-11 on penalties after the final finished 0-0.