City U18 return to EFL Youth Alliance action on Saturday as they face Morecambe U18 at Parkside Road Stadium (11am KO).
Hear from head coach Sam Tillen and captain Charlie Parks as well as important match information in this preview.
Sam Tillen’s thoughts:
“We’ll be travelling up the day before so we’ll train first and then head up to stay the night. It’s a great experience for the lads, a good oppourtunity to build camaraderie and the relationships that were helped with our pre-season trip in Bath.
“It’s a chance for us to be together and then prepare in the correct manner for the game and give them the best opportunity to prepare to their optimum ability.
“It’s a positive of the EFL opening up the games programme, it gives us opportunities to play against teams we haven’t played for a significant period of time. We’re looking forward to it, we’ve had a look at some footage of Morecambe and we’ll go with a game plan as we always do.”
Charlie Parks on Morecambe:
“I’m looking forward to it, hopefully we can build on the performance at Mansfield last Saturday and go and get the three points. It’s a long way up there but hopefully we’ll win.”
A look at the opposition:
Morecambe are one of many new sides that City will face in the Youth Alliance after a change to the format for the 24/25 campaign.
The Shrimps finished fourth in Group B last season, ending up just two points behind eventual title winners Preston North End. They come into Saturday’s matchup with the Imps off the back of a 5-2 defeat in their opening fixture of the Youth Alliance Cup, although they are unbeaten in the league with four points on the board so far.
City will be hoping to continue the momentum they’ve built in the first few weeks of the season, with two good performances against Mansfield Town in the past few games. A 3-1 win at home, was followed by a 0-0 draw in the cup against the young Stags.
Match information:
City will hoping for their second win of the 24/25 campaign when they travel to the home of Kendal Town FC to face Morecambe on Saturday.
There’s free entry to the game for supporters with kick-off at 11am, while there will also be updates available from our Academy X (formerly Twitter) account.