PREVIEW: FA Youth Cup Fourth Round: Derby County Under-18's v Southend United Under-18's

Last updated : 26 January 2011 By westfield shrimper
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The FA Youth Cup Fourth Round sponsored by E.ON

Derby County Under-18's v Southend United Under-18's

The draw for this season's 5th round of the FA Youth Cup has given the young Shrimpers a mighty incentive to beat the Rams at Pride Park on Wednesday, January 26th, kick-off 19.00, because if they do Ricky Duncan's team will be on their way to Premier League Anfield and the Liverpool Under-18 side.

Of course, they missed out on playing at Old Trafford three years ago before defeat to Carlisle so Ricky will be hoping not to miss out on another chance to turn out at a big Premiership ground.

However, after the Blues boys beat Coventry 3-1 in the last round in a stunning victory they will be in good spirits for their tough trip to the East Midlands. (Report below.)

And Duncan will make sure they focus on one game at a time.

He told www.southendunited.co.uk: "It's obviously a huge incentive that we could be playing Liverpool but at the same time we can't be distracted by that. Derby are an academy side and will provide very tough opposition. We're going there full of confidence though and we're a good side too so we're hoping to cause an upset. We've had three games at home in the FA Youth Cup so far and have scored nine goals but now it's time to go and do it at an away ground and it'a great ground too"

As for the home side there's plenty of excitement as well, and the young Rams are obviously favourites, but they're Academy manager Darren Wassall is also well aware of keeping his charges putting Merseyside out of their mind and only being concerned with eleven Shrimpers.

Wassall told www.dcfc.co.uk: "A lot of players haven't performed on the Pride Park pitch before so it's going to be a great platform and I hope they rise to the occasion. Southend are a tough opposition and 10 wins from 12 suggests they are in very good form. I went to watch them the other week and they gave Coventry a real run for their money. Their work rate is excellent from the off so we have to match them in that area. if we can do that we'll have a good chance, but it will be tough because they are a good side."

Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1 on Merseyside to get through to the last 16 watched by a crowd of 1,197.

Chelsea, the last winners of the previous competition, beat London rivals Arsenal, the winners before them, and will now face Barnsley or the surprise package, Rushden & Diamonds, to reach the quarter-finals.

Full Fifth Round Draw


Leicester City or Blackburn Rovers v Preston North End 
Leeds United AFC v Peterborough United or Aston Villa
Manchester United v Newcastle United or Grimsby Town
Fulham v Watford
Liverpool v Derby County or Southend United
Sheffield United or Millwall v Blackpool or Birmingham City
Chelsea v Barnsley or Rushden & Diamonds.
Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough

Blues FA Youth Cup recent history

After a great run three seasons ago that took the Shrimpers Trust sponsored Southend United youth team to the verge of the sixth round and a tie away to Manchester United, the last two competitions before the present one have seen them exit in the First Round proper.

2008/09 saw them lose to Brentford on penalties, and they certainly got revenge for that result this time around, while last season they were unlucky to be drawn away to eventual Youth Alliance Champions Millwall, where they lost 3-1.

However, they started with a good win in the First Round over the Hatters and you can read the report here:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/feat/edb1/fa_youth_cup_first_round southend_united_under18s_3_luton_town_under18s_1_after_extratime_
575260/index.shtml


And followed it up by sinking the Bees in the next stage:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/feat/edb1/fa_youth_cup_second_round_
southend_united_under18s_3_brentford_under18s_0_601965/index.shtml


Then the major scalp of the Academy Sky Blues side in the third round:
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/feat/edb1/fa_youth_cup_third_round_
southend_united_under18s_3_coventry_city_under18s_1_619226/index.shtml

All the results so far:
www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFAYouthCup/Results

For more details of the competition, go here:
www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFAYouthCup.aspx