York City's stars of the future hit the prestigious FA Youth Cup trail tonight when they entertain rivals Hull City in a first round tie at Bootham Crescent, kick-off 7pm.
The City youngsters have still to win this season, but will take on the Tigers in confident mood after a recent upturn in performances.
Tonight's encounter promises to be a close affair. When the two sides clashed earlier in the season in the North-East Conference Youth Alliance they drew 2-2.
Said assistant youth coach Brian Neaves: "The boys are all looking forward to the game.
"We always tell them that these are the sort of games you come to a club like York City to play. They should be looking forward to the occasion and shouldn't be afraid of it.
"It's also a chance for them to play at Bootham Crescent as a team and hopefully there will be a decent crowd.
"It's a night match too, so that usually means there is a good atmosphere."
Neaves reckons if the City youngsters can stamp out individual errors then the team have a good chance of progressing into round two.
"In our last two or three games we have been playing well, even if results haven't shown as much," he said.
City will not be able to field their third-year trainees in tonight's competition, which is open to Under-18s.
That means Graeme Law, Sean Davies, Matthew McKenzie, Matthew Coad, Mike McKenzie and Lev Yalcin are all ineligible.
City have drafted four members of the club's under-16s team into the squad.
They include Joe Foote, a central midfielder, and Alex Janes, a left-back, both from York, Middlesbrough-based right-back Leon Poole and Steve Collins, a left-sided player, who hails from Harrogate.
The tie with the Tigers must be settled tonight. If the scores are level after 90 minutes extra-time and penalties will be used to decide the winners.
Entry costs £3 for adults and £1 for concessions.
York City (from): Stockdale, Anderson, Ashcroft, Arthur, Baynes, Stewart, Kamara, Green, Webster, Haw, Lyons, Staley, Reid, Foote, Janes, Poole, Collins
Updated: 11:24 Wednesday, October 15, 2003
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