CHRIS Hackett had nothing but pride of his Oxford United young guns after their historic FA Youth Cup run came to an end at the hands of Manchester City.

Justin Oboavwoduo gave the hosts the lead after 20 minutes, before Will Dickson grabbed a second half brace to seal a comfortable 3-0 win.

However, United’s record-breaking run to the quarter finals has left academy coach Hackett plenty of positives to look back on.

“I’m immensely proud of the boys on this run and journey we’ve had,” he said.

“From the first round to get to the quarter finals as a group, they’ve been fantastic.

“They’re disappointed tonight, it’s probably a step too far against a really, really good team, but what they’ve achieved over the last three or four months has been fantastic.

“They should be really proud of what they’ve achieved for themselves, the team and the club as well.”

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The U’s were made to work hard against a City side who controlled large periods of the game and kept the ball magnificently.

When the opportunity arose for United to attack, they were unable to take full advantage.

Hackett said: “They make it really tough for you Man City, they’ve got some really good players.

“They’ve bought in half their team and paid a lot of money.

“We tried to impose our game on them at times but we just couldn’t in those moments.

“We needed a little bit more quality to hurt them in those moments and we couldn’t quite do it.

“The run’s come to an end but they should be really proud of what they’ve done.

“The memories are not just on the pitch, the experiences they’ve gone through will stick with them for a lifetime.

“That’s the key for these boys, it’ll hurt now because we genuinely believed we could come to the game and get something.

“It wasn’t to be but the experiences they’ve had have been fantastic.”

Defensively though, the U’s held their own for large periods and produced a number of important blocks and interceptions.

“Out of possession, we were in control – we probably wanted to be 20 or 30 yards higher up the pitch,” said Hackett.

“They had us penned in around the box a little bit more than what we wanted.

“We wanted to be around the halfway line so we could have a bit of space to go in behind and be a little bit closer to their goal.

“We lost a little bit of the territory but they make it so hard for you, they move the ball so quickly and have got some fantastic players.

“We defended our box pretty well, but from those moments when we did break out and we did intercept, we needed to hurt them but we didn’t quite have that.”