FAILURE at the penultimate hurdle of last season’s Europa League effectively signalled the end of an era at Anfield.

But Jay Spearing hopes his own semi-final disappointment could yet prove the catalyst for a long-awaited breakthrough into regular first-team reckoning at the club.

While Liverpool fell short to Diego Forlan and Atletico Madrid, on-loan Spearing was aiding Leicester City’s scrap to win promotion to the Premier League.

The Foxes secured a place in the play-offs and subsequently became embroiled in a memorable semi-final against Cardiff City. Having lost the first leg 1-0 at home, Nigel Pearson’s side won a dramatic second leg 3-2 in the Welsh capital to force the tie to penalties.

Spearing appeared in both games and was next in line to take a spot kick before Martyn Waghorn missed to deprive the midfielder and his temporary team-mates a Wembley showdown with Blackpool.

Heartbreak. But nevertheless, the 21-year-old is eager to build on that experience and press his claims under new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson.

“I really enjoyed it, it was very good,” says Spearing of his two-month spell at the Walkers Stadium. “It was a massive difference from Liverpool. I’ve been here since I was seven, and going to Leicester they did everything completely differently. I had to get used to it.

“Playing games week in week out helped me a lot, and with the expectation of reaching the play-offs and the pressure of those games, it was a great experience.

“It was a massive disappointment for the club not to reach the play-off final, and a massive disappointment for the lads there because we had worked hard during the final stages of the season. Overall, I thought we deserved more than we got on the day.

“It has made me a bit of a better player to go out and see what you should be fighting for every week. Now I want that hunger at my hometown club.

“I hope appearing in the play-offs has shown that I can handle big-time, big pressure games. Games with a high pressure that you really need to win. At Liverpool, it’s like that every week no matter who we are playing.”