North End’s teenager is adamant his team-mates will recover from the heartache of last night ahead of another big game on Saturday.
Full back Clive Smith delivered the rallying call after the Lilywhites’ were knocked out of the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup on penalties against Luton.
North End managed to take it to extra-time after Josh Earl equalised in the 89th minute following Luton’s early opener, but the Lilywhites were cruelly denied a place in the last eight against Blackburn after the Hatters won 5-3 on penalties.
But Smith, who recently signed a professional deal with North End told PNE PlayerHD last night that they have to put the defeat behind them ahead of another crucial cup fixture against Shrewsbury Town in the Regional Final of the Youth Alliance Cup this weekend.
“We’ve got to go again now and come back ready for Saturday,” said the 18-year-old to PNE PlayerHD.
“We’ll be looking to put in another good performance but hopefully this time we can get the win and maybe meet Luton again in the final – every dog has his day, so hopefully we’ll get our chance again.
“They came out first and that probably gave us a bit of a shock as we were a bit edgy to start off with.
“But we got to grips with the game, realised we could play and we did and we put in a really good performance.
“We worked really hard as team, we battled on especially in the extra-time period - it was just unfortunate we couldn’t get the result in the end but that’s football.”
For more reaction from Clive Smith as North End bowed out of the FA Youth Cup, head to PNE Player here.