ROVERS youth were a whisker away from beating the "best in the world" in a prestigious international tournament.
The youngsters lost on penalties to Ajax in the final of the Rotterdam competition.
And rising star James Beattie was voted the player of the tournament with four goals.
Rovers drew 1-1 with Ajax on Friday, the Dutch boys equalising a James Beattie goal with four minutes remaining of the group section tie.
And yesterday's final remained goalless after extra time.
Both sides converted their first five penalties, Keith Brown the unlucky player to miss from the spot in sudden death.
Other group matches saw a 0-0 draw with Sporting Club Feyernoord on Saturday morning before a 6-0 trouncing of Sparta Rotterdam in the afternoon.
Beattie scored twice, with Graham Cassin also on target with two, Craig Chisholm and Paul Trudgill completing the scoring.
Another Beattie goal sealed Sunday morning's semi-final against Feyernoord.
A proud Jim Furnell said: "They were excellent. They played the best youth side in the world twice and should have won both games."
Other sides taking part were Bayern Munich, Helsingborg of Sweden and PSV Eindhoven.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article