Under-18s boss Stuart relishing ‘exciting’ FA Youth Cup opportunity

Under-18s Coach Stuart Lewis wants his players to rise to the occasion when we begin our latest FA Youth Cup campaign against Ipswich Town at Stevenage on Thursday night (7pm UK).

We face a tough Tractor Boys outfit that’s challenging at the top end of the Professional Development League table – they’re currently second, one point off leaders Charlton – and which got the better of us by the odd goal in five in a pre-season friendly at their training ground back in July.

Himself a product of our Academy system, former midfielder Stuart played against Ipswich when we met them in the semi-finals of the Youth Cup in 2005. They beat us 4-1 on aggregate on that occasion before famously defeating Southampton in the final to lift the trophy, a certain Gareth Bale taking his place among the Saints’ substitutes.

But with a fresh crop of players under his stewardship who are hungry to impress, Stuart is feeling buoyant ahead of Thursday’s clash.

“It’s a really exciting competition for the players – in this age group, it’s one of the highlights of the fixture calendar, playing in a stadium under lights and everything that goes with that, so it’ll be a really enjoyable night for the lads and for myself,” he said.

“Having played in the Youth Cup, I can still picture and feel those great moments and memories that we enjoyed, so we’ll be looking to emulate that and hopefully the lads can put on a really good display and show what we’re about. We’re expecting Ipswich to be an older team, quite physical – they’re always a really good challenge. Bryan Klug, who I know really well, always encourages them to play in the right way and with a real intent, so we’re going to have to be ready and we will be – we look forward to giving them a good game.

“On these big nights, we look at which players can come up with big moments, we’re looking at who can play on the big stage, who can take responsibility, who has that individual one-v-one brilliance, but also as a collective we’ve got to be together. There’s going to be some tough moments in the tie, so it’s about sticking together and doing those things that we’ve been working hard at this season.”

We’re without a win in four games in all competitions heading into the match but, with some influential members of the squad having been sidelined of late, a handful of Under-16s players stepped up and impressed in Saturday’s Under-18 Premier League game against Leicester. With competition for places in the Youth Cup always fierce, Stuart indicated that some of those younger boys could be involved again on Thursday.

“We’ll be a young team but I’m sure the players will give a really good account of themselves and enjoy the evening,” he said. “There’s likely to be some Under-16s involved again because they’re deserving of that but whoever goes out on the pitch, everyone’s got to be together and pulling in the same direction to enable us to have a really good night and get a positive result. It’ll be a tough game against Ipswich, it always is, but hopefully we can produce a dominant display and a good performance, and the result will follow.”

Some of our Under-18s players will be joining hosts Matt Tarr and Rebekah Walker as part of the special 24-hour live stream on our official Twitch channel from 11.30am UK on Thursday to preview the game – make sure you tune in.

Thursday’s match takes place at Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium, kick-off 7pm UK. Tickets will be on sale on the night, priced at £5 for adults and £2 for under-18s.