Cheltenham Town Under-18s continue their FA Youth Cup campaign with the visit of Portsmouth FC to Evesham United’s Spiers and Hartwell Jubilee Stadium on Thursday.
The winners will progress through to the third round and face Rugby Town away at the stage in which the club took Arsenal to penalties in 2019. It’s a repeat of 2019’s second round that saw Pete Haynes’ side defeat their opponents by eight goals to four. The two sides have also met this season in the EFL Youth Alliance with Pompey leaving Seasons with a 2-1 win.
A win would see Haynes’ side play United Counties League Premier Division South side Rugby Town in what could be the club’s best chance of reaching the fourth round of the competition and the chance to emulate the senior side in last season’s FA Cup after the non-league side overcame League One Morecambe in a 2-0 win last night.
The away side saw a close affair bring them to the second-round stage with a 1-0 win over Erith Town courtesy of a first half strike from Alfie Bridgman. Portsmouth struggled to deal with the pressure from the non-league outfit with a self-described ‘heart in mouth’ performance leaving them lucky to go through to Thursday’s tie.
The Robins had an easier passage through, overcoming North Leigh 3-0 at the Jonny Rocks Stadium at the start of the month. Two goals from Zac Guinan and one from Cheltenham’s youngest ever player, Will Armitage, meant a comfortable passage into round two.
Since the last round, Portsmouth have picked up a draw against Swindon Town and a 3-2 win away to Forest Green Rovers whereas Cheltenham have fallen to a 3-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers before a 0-0 draw in the last game versus Oxford United.
It’s likely to be a far closer affair than the 8-4 win in 2019 in what is sure to be an entertaining game for all involved.
Pete Haynes had this to say on tonight’s game:
“We’re very much looking forward to the tie tonight against Portsmouth, they’re a very competitive side and they’re doing well in the league so it will be a really good game and it’s one that we’re very much looking forward to.
“Having gone from playing a non-league side to a professional academy, we’re not expecting the game to be too dissimilar, both teams will be wanting to win the game, both teams will be wanting to compete as much as they can to do that so we treat the game as we have all of the others with our preparation and make sure that we put a game plan together to try and influence the opposition in the ways that we’d like to ensure we can beat them.
“It’s always hard to say what to expect from the game in terms of a score line point of view, ultimately it depends on who’s able to control the game the best and take their opportunities. Last time in the FA Youth Cup when we played them we took all of our opportunities and dominated the game in the league this year. We feel that we should have won the game back in August and had lots of chances to do so.
“We are looking forward to the game, the FA Youth Cup is obviously an eighteens game with the youth alliance being an under-19 league so we’re aware that some players may be missing from Portsmouth but also potentially from ourselves so it will be interesting to see what sides the teams put out and hopefully it’s not so much of a goal fest as it was last time in terms of the 8-4, ultimately we’re just looking to get the victory and through to round three.
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“Looking ahead to round three, we don’t really want to do that. It’s just important to focus on the game tonight and make sure that the players are focused on the victory tonight to make sure they secure their place in round three. Obviously now knowing the opposition in Rugby who have done fantastically well to get to that point, it does set up the potential of a very exciting tie for both teams, however it is important that we focus on Portsmouth tonight and ensure we get the result needed.
“It’s a nice stadium, it has a very good pitch and it will be a fantastic occasion for the players no matter where they’re playing.
Ongoing pitch work at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium means the tie will be played at Evesham United’s Spiers and Hartwell Jubilee Stadium with tickets costing £5 and concessions £2.
