Stoke City Reserves 1 Blackburn Rovers Reserves 0

THERE were no complaints from the Rovers camp as they sent out a very young side and slipped to a disappointing defeat against Stoke City Reserves at non-League Newcastle Town's ground last night.

The only goal of the game came from a Steve Taaffe header after 15 minutes and it was enough to seal the Premier Division points for the home team.

It was not one of Rovers' better Pontin's League performances, though they did show an improvement in the second half.

A couple of half chances were created but they never really threatened to take anything from the match which was disappointing in the light of some of their recent displays.

There was a distinct lack of first-team experience in the side, however, with youngsters Gary Hamilton and Ben Burgess forming a rookie strike force which was unable to cause Stoke too many problems.

David Dunn was the only Rovers player with any significant senior experience behind him as Rovers boss Brian Kidd decided he could not afford to risk any others.

"We never really got going," said coach Terry Darracott. "The positive thing we take from the game is the hope that the kids will benefit from the experience of playing at this level.

"At least that should stand them in good stead for the future."

ROVERS: Bingham, Richardson, Taylor, Brown, Murphy, Fitzpatrick, Konde, Dunn, Hardy (sub Scates 75 mins), Burgess, Hamilton (sub M Richards 60 mins). Subs not used: Howson, D Dunning, Hind.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.