Reds travel to Carrow Road in Third Round to take on the Canaries.
Martin Devaney’s and Tom Harban’s Reds will travel to East Anglia this evening in search of victory in the FA Youth Cup Third Round, with a 7pm kick-off.
The cup offers a different outlook for the youngsters who for most of them, will be experiencing this competition for the first time. Playing in the Under 18s Professional Development League Two most weeks, the Reds are generally used to league matches where they seek to tweak their games into the mould and ambition of progressing up the footballing ladder towards the U23s and Paul Heckingbottom’s first team.
The trip to Norwich will represent a tough challenge for the U18s from Oakwell who will be taking on a Category One academy away from home, in a ground that the hosts have previously filled for their youngsters with an attendance of 26,000. That was in a year when the Canaries won the competition, beating Chelsea over two-legs in the final, where now Barnsley-man Cameron McGeehan netted once in each leg.
The format is the same as the professional version of the FA Cup, with a straight knock-out tournament.
Speaking to barnsleyfc.co.uk ahead of the game, Martin Devaney wanted his young charges to enjoy the occasion but said everyone is focused on trying to get the win.
He said: “We’ll go there and enjoy it, but we’re going there to win. We’ve prepared as normal in the build up to take it as every other game, I don’t want the lads to feel anymore pressure than normal.
“We had the experience of playing last week under lights at Bolton and despite the results we did well, so I’m sure it’s one the lads are looking forward to. It’s a great experience for them. From what I have seen, Norwich have some good players but we know their strengths and weaknesses which we will try to expose. I’ve told the lads they need to play the game, not the occasion, that’s a big one for us.”
Follow updates from Carrow Road on our official academy Twitter account: @AcademyBFC
Highlights will be available on iFollow Barnsley.
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