York City's youth team were preparing for tonight's FA Youth Cup third round tie with Huddersfield Town at Bootham Crescent buoyed by incentives aplenty.

Victory will earn the City youngsters a fourth round clash at either Stoke City or Wolves, guaranteeing them a rare opportunity to play in one of the best stadiums, Britannia or Molineux, in the country.

But according to City's head of youth development, Paul Stancliffe, there is also a massive chance to impress the watching City boss Terry Dolan.

The form of youth-team striker Scott Emmerson, 18, earned him a call-up to the senior squad for the ill-fated LDV Vans Trophy match with Darlington on Tuesday.

The Durham-born centre-forward scored a hat-trick on his full debut for the City reserves last month and has been finding the net regularly for the intermediates.

"It just goes to show once again that whoever is in charge at York City is going to give youth a chance and tonight will be another chance to go out and impress the manager," said Stancliffe.

Huddersfield represent a major obstacle to the City youngsters' hopes of progress.

The Terriers compete in the FA Academy Premier League against the likes of Man-chester United and Arsenal and have already beaten Leicester City, Leeds, Tot-tenham and Newcastle United this season.

Last year, Town reached the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup before losing to eventual runners-up Coventry City.

City have recent youth cup pedigree of their own, however.

Christian Fox, James Turley and Lee Bullock were members of the successful youth set-up that reached the fifth round two season ago before bowing out in a replay to eventual winners West Ham United.

Stancliffe accepts tonight's match will be the biggest of the City youngsters' burgeoning careers.

Indeed, for those who fail to make it into the senior ranks once their scholarships come to an end it may well be the biggest match they will ever play in.

* The third round replay between Stoke and Wolves at Molineux was postponed on Tuesday night. The sides had previ-ously drawn 0-0.

dave.stanford@ycp.co.uk