City U18 begin their Youth Alliance Cup campaign on Saturday 24 August as they travel to RH Academy to face Mansfield Town (11am KO).
Hear from head coach Sam Tillen and forward Zane Okoro as well as important match information in this preview.
Sam Tillen’s thoughts:
“It’s been a good atmosphere. The first few days we concentrated on the previous fixture, looking back on what we can do better but also what we did well. Thursday and Friday is usually looking forward to the game so we’ll finish our preparations and hopefully be ready for Saturday.
“The aim is just like any other competition that we enter - we want to go as far as we can. There’s an opportunity to do that, it’s a group stage so we have five other fixtures.
“It’s all about picking up points and we know Saturday will be a very tough test as we’ve got to play an opponent back-to-back, especially after they were beaten, it’ll be a test of character for us and for them. We have to be ready for that but hopefully we can set ourselves up for the group stage and rest of the cup competition.”
Zane Okoro on his aims:
“I just want to be a key player for this team, and give my best every time I step onto the pitch. I’d like to wish on with the first team as much as I can and grasp every opportunity I can. I want to do well this season all cups and then push on the league that’s the most important thing for us, just do well every competition.”
A look at the opposition:
Mansfield were EFL Youth Alliance title winners last season, and with a similar group to the one that ended last season there’s plenty of expectations for them to kick-on and perform well.
Mansfield started their season strong with a 2-0 win against Huddersfield Town at RH Academy before facing the Imps in their second game of the season and falling to defeat at Bottesford. It was an impressive 3-1 win for City with goals coming from Denny Oliver, Dan Vanderpuye and Bola Okewoye.
Match information:
City begin their Youth Alliance Cup campaign as they hope for back-to-back wins against their hosts at RH Academy.
There’s free entry to the game for spectators with kick-off at 11am, while there will also be updates available from our Academy X (formerly Twitter) account.