ROVERS reserve boss Alan Murray believes Thursday night's defeat at the hands of Manchester United could turn out to be a valuable education for some of his young players.

A youthful Rovers side lost 3-1 on the night despite racing into a 1-0 interval lead.

But, though Murray was disappointed with certain aspects of his side's performance, he remained upbeat afterwards.

"As long as our lads learn from that and benefit from the experience then that will be of great benefit in the long run," said Murray.

Rovers had dominated the opening 45 minutes and could have had more to show for their efforts than a stunning chip from Alan Mahon.

But, after conceding a goal within 30 seconds of the restart, United then capitalised on two mistakes from keeper Ryan Robinson to run out comfortable winners.

"It was a game of two halves," said Murray. "We played well in the first half but then fell asleep in the second half and the two errors proved costly but Ryan's still a young boy and he'll bounce back from that.

"On the plus side, I thought we were clearly the better side in the first half but if you give teams like that encouragement then they're going to come back at you.

"It was disappointing that we fell asleep for 30 seconds after the break because we'd just spoken about being switched on and paying attention to what we were doing.

"Their keeper had to make three great saves, though, so on another day we could have won the game."

One pleasing aspect of the night for Rovers officials was the attendance of 2,035 -- a brilliant effort on a freezing December evening.