MICHAEL Jolley felt his Burnley Under-23 side were hard done by in their East Lancashire derby defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

The Clarets suffered a 4-0 Premier League Cup defeat to their neighbours in a game played at Morecambe’s Globe Arena.

Jolley’s side had gone in level at the break and had been the better side, but their failure to get the opening goal cost them and the Clarets chief admitted it was a lesson for his side.

Anthony Stokes scored within 60 seconds of the restart and added to his tally later on, while captain Matty Platt scored twice for Rovers.

“I thought in the first half we edged the game and were slightly the better team,” said Jolley, with George Green and Dan Agyei both going close.

“We had some chances to get the first goal and the first goal is really important.

“We didn’t pick up Stokes from a corner early in the second half and the momentum swung towards Blackburn after that.

“Fair play to them, they deserved to win second half with their performance but small details can make a big difference and if we get the first goal in the first half I think it’s a different game.

“I think the scoreline is a little bit harsh on us but that’s the way it is in competitive football and the lads have to learn that really quickly.

“The Blackburn team showed their quality in the second half and took the game away from us and some of our younger players struggled to cope with that.

“They’ve got to try and learn from it and improve and keep growing.

“That’s ultimately what this is all about. As much as we want to win, it’s about helping the young players to improve so that ultimately they can go into our first team or a first team elsewhere and have a career.”

While Rovers could field senior pros Wes Brown and Stokes, as well as players regularly competing in Premier League 2, the Clarets had no such luxuries and they fielded two 17-year-olds in the back four in James Clarke and Oliver Younger.

“I thought they acquitted themselves well,” Jolley said of the youngsters. “Stokes scored a couple goals but Olly can take a lot out of the game as well, and James Clarke as well, he played up at Sunderland and did a great job for us and again today.”

Burnley are now three points behind Rovers and four behind Sunderland in the group. They travel to bottom side Cardiff City on February 13 and welcome Sunderland to Turf Moor on February 27.

“We’ve got the last two games to look forward to now. It makes it really clear for us,” said Jolley.

“We’ve got to try and win them both. That may be a blessing. We know what we’ve got to do and we’ll see what we’ve got in terms of players for those games.

“It was a good experience overall. The result has gone against us but I think there were some positives for the younger lads.”