Ahead of Wednesday’s 6:00 PM kick off at the Kassam Stadium, we sat down with Under-18s Head Coach, Niall Keown, to discuss the preparations that go into an FA Youth Cup evening.
The Under-18s will be looking to go one better than their previous two campaigns in the Youth Cup, with the Young U’s exiting the competition at the third round on both occasions. This year they have the opportunity to play at the Kassam against a strong Wigan Athletic side.
After two seasons supporting Pablo Haysham, this is Niall’s first season as Head Coach of the Under-18s. Niall played an important role in the Under-18s fantastic run of 15 league wins in a row. He also was on the sideline when Oxford fell short in last year’s Youth Cup third round defeat to Watford. Both Niall and Pablo will be hoping the squad can go further than last season, starting with Wednesday's fixture against Wigan Athletic.
When asked about how the squad is preparing for Wednesday, Niall said:
“Preparations have been good. One of the things that you want is the game to still feel like any other game for the boys, so in terms of preparations, nothing changes from what we do for other games.
“The boys have been confident. They’ve got some good momentum from what they’ve done in the past few months and everyone’s very much looking forward to the game.”
The Under-18s have been in excellent form leading up to the Youth Cup and will be looking to take that momentum into Wednesday. The Young U’s have won six out of their last eight fixtures in all competitions, including a recent 4-1 win over a strong Plymouth Argyle side.
“The boys have that winning mindset and are confident on the back of what they’ve done so far this season. When it comes to these kinds of games, the players that love and look forward to the occasion are the ones that will succeed and give themselves the best possible chance to perform.
“The idea of getting the occasion to play at a great stadium, is that it becomes like a dress rehearsal for the boys if they get that opportunity to be in and around the first team.”
Wigan are an opposition the Under-18s are not familiar with due to them being a CAT 2 side and participating in the Northern League. The visitors have already got their Youth Cup journey underway as they entered in the first round along with other League One clubs.
The Latics defeated Salford City and Walsall on route to setting up Wednesday’s third round tie. Like United, the visitors themselves come into tonight on the back of some excellent form, after winning eight league games in a row.
“In terms of analysis, when you look at other teams, you’ll always have an awareness of how they setup and what they do. However, what we do is going to be about us, how we set up and perform, and how our mindset is. So although there is always a focus on the opposition to some extent, the large focus is about us, in terms of what we’re like on the day.”
Injuries have been a setback for the Under-18s this season, giving Niall a tough task of selecting his squad. The Young U’s will be without several key players on Wednesday, including Leo Snowden and Louis Griffiths who were part of the first team squad that travelled to Indonesia for the pre-season tour. This means that the opportunity has been given to a number of Under-16s, who will be involved in the squad.
“It’s obviously something that has happened this season, where there’s been a number of injuries in the older players, but it’s a really good test for the squad. All these players are ready to go and perform on the evening."
Kick off is at 6:00 PM at the Kassam Stadium on Wednesday 17 December. Tickets are still available HERE and are priced as followed:
Adults: £6
Concessions: £3
Live updates will also be posted on the Academy socials throughout the evening.
