GARY Butcher has issued a rallying cry to his Clitheroe troops after the disappointing FA Vase final defeat to Brigg Town at Wembley.

The Blues joint manager insists that Sunday's painful ordeal can be turned into a positive experience as the Shawbridge side push for promotion to the UniBond League next season.

And he vows this will be Clitheroe's aim when they begin their North West Counties' League campaign in August.

"You learn more from defeat than you ever do in victory," said the 33-year-old who works as a driving instructor in Blackburn.

"And this experience has to be used in a positive manner.

"I'm sure that the players will be the better for it.

"Although it's pretty hard to see it in that light just now, with the final just two days old."

Butcher also expressed his "disappointment and pain" after Sunday's 3-0 reverse.

Until Brigg scored he was convinced that the Blues had the measure of their Lincolnshire opponents.

But the quality of their first goal, he maintains, deflated the Blues and lifted Brigg at a crucial moment.

And referee Stephen Lodge's decision to award a controversial second half penalty was a killer blow. "You don't see many goals at Wembley like the one Carl Stead scored in the first half," admitted Butcher.

"That lifted them and destroyed one or two of our players."

Darwen Reserves made it to the final of the Reserve Division Cup with a 2-0 win over Chorley Reserves at Duke Street.

Stephen Lynch burst through two defenders to score the first and Martin Horsfield made his customary goal contribution to set up a final confrontation against either Accrington Stanley or Macclesfield reserves.

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