Posh Youths urged to grab their shot at glory

And the Posh kids don’t have to look far for inspiration. The club’s under 18 manager Matthew Etherington was part of the Posh team that reached the FA Youth Cup semi-finals in the 1997-98 season - the club’s best run in the competition.

“It’s a great competition in which to showcase your skills,” Etherington stated. “People pay attention to what happens in the FA Youth Cup.

“We have a target in the competition which we believe is achievable, but we need to have our attitude spot on tonight.

“We are there to be shot at, but we will be expected to win and if we’re at it and mentally focused we should be ok. Football doesn’t always work out like that though.

“We watched Hulbridge in the last round and they are a decent, hard-working team.

“They were also backed by a big noisy crowd which I imagine will be even bigger and noisier tonight. It’s just one extra thing for us to deal with and I’m confident the lads will cope.

“I had an amazing experience in this competition so it will good to enjoy another good run.”

Posh, who are fifth of 11 teams in their Midland Youth Alliance League, went down 2-0 in a cup tie at Northampton on Saturday.

Star man Harrison Burrows misses tonight’s game because of injury.

The winners tonight host Luton or Braintree in the second round.