Blackpool's academy chief on FA Youth Cup, Stoke City and potential Manchester United match-up

The club’s youth-team make the trip to Stoke City on Saturday afternoon for their FA Youth Cup third round tie – with a potential home clash against holders Manchester United on the line.

Academy director Ciaran Donnelly knows what a tough challenge the Under-18s face in coming up against a category one academy in Stoke, but he’s excited about what lies in store.

“It’s the one competition where we play to win rather than play to develop so we’re looking at the result,” he told the club’s official website.

“The players are buzzing for it, looking forward to playing – in academy standards – a big club and we’re confident we can go and give it a good go.

"Coming in at the third round, because it’s based on the first-team, sometimes you can get really unlucky with the draw where you can be against favourites and it’s one game and you’re out.

“This is a tough draw, these are a category one academy but we like our group, we think we’ve got a good group.

“It’s younger than last year’s group in that it’s probably a bit more of a trade-off between first years and second years, whereas last year we were quite heavy on the second-year scholars.”

The young Seasiders will be hoping for a repeat of last season’s memorable run to the quarter-finals, where they beat Huddersfield Town, Cheltenham Town and Newcastle United on their way to the last eight.

They then pushed Premier League giants Chelsea all the way at Stamford Bridge only to be edged out 3-2.

“Last year was your perfect run for a club like ours,” Donnelly added.

“It had a couple of winnable games, then a big Premier League Club here at Bloomfield Road (Newcastle United) and then the dream tie at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

“If you could write the kind of run that you want to have, that would be it.

“This year we’re presented with a huge challenge straight away so we will look to those players who have gained a little bit of experience last season and hopefully they can be the standout performers this year, rather than the support act as we would call it.”

Donnelly is well aware of what lies ahead if Neal Eardley’s side can win on Saturday, but he says the players can’t afford to get too distracted by a potential clash against Manchester United.

“They are the reigning champions, they’ve won it numerous times so it would be amazing if we could get to entertain them here at Bloomfield Road in the next round,” he said.

“But we’re not looking towards that, we know that carrot is there but we’re certainly not making any presumptions that we’re going to be there. We’re very much focused on what’s ahead of us this Saturday.”

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at the bet365 Stadium at 1pm, two hours before the first-team are in action at Cardiff City.

Admission is free for season ticket holders or £3 for non-season ticket holders.