BLACKBURN Rovers academy coach Gary Bowyer admitted his young side were left shell shocked on Saturday after an 8-0 home drubbing to Manchester City.

After an unbeaten October, which saw Rovers win two and draw one, their Academy League campaign took a turn for the worse at the start of this month - but Bowyer has tipped his starlets to bounce back.

Three City goals in five first half minutes left Rovers with a mountain to climb at Brockhall as they went in at the break 5-0 down.

Boss Bowyer said: “It was a catalogue of errors, a poor defensive display and we didn’t offer too much going forward.

"Whereas Manchester City’s finishing was absolutely clinical.

“We are totally shell-shocked, we now need to regroup very quickly, learn from this and get ready for the game on Saturday.

“We’ve young players in the team and hopefully they can bounce back.”

Rovers actually started well and had the first meaningful effort of the game on 18 minutes when a flowing move saw Jordan Bowen fire wide when well positioned.

A trio of City strikes on 20, 24 and 25 minutes though stunned the hosts and two further goals before the break effectively ended the clash as a contest.

Rovers struggled to improve after the break, with City adding to their woes on 52 and 56 minutes, before completing the rout seven minutes from time.

Bowyer’s men travel to Wolves on Saturday, hoping to refind their October form.