"It was cup tie football. I said to the boys that the biggest compliment I could give to them was that Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley would have been delighted," said the Academy director.
"You don't get any prizes for being pretty in cup football. There were times when we would have liked to have played a bit more, but Shanks and Paisley would have been thrilled because we stuck to our tactical plan and we stuck together. I'm thrilled at their maturity today.
"They had the ball a lot and were at us a lot, and with young players that can sometimes create a pressure. But people like Robbie Threlfall, Jay Spearing, Michael Burns and Stephen Darby are very mature lads."