Ian McGuckin has admitted that Thursday evening's exciting
FA Youth Cup tie at Seaham Red Star is the perfect chance for his young players
Pools Youth Team begin their journey in the prestigious
competition when they make the short trip to The Ferguson Motor Repairs Stadium
for the Second Round Qualifying tie.After suffering a 4-1 defeat at AFC Fylde last Wednesday in
their second game of the new NLFA campaign, McGuckin says the players are
determined to respond in style on Thursday.“The lads are really looking forward to it,” he told us.
“At this time of year the players are always looking out for
the draw and there's an excitement about who we'll get so to get a really local
team gives a little bit more edge too.“The competition has a bit extra for us anyway, it's a
prestigious competition to play in and we've done reasonably well in it over
previous years and we'd like to do so again this time.“We had a disappointing result last time out in the league
so this is a great opportunity for us to bounce back and get back to winning
ways.“I went to watch Seaham play myself last week and they
scored lots of goals so we know they will be a big threat and I expect them to
be really up for it.“But our lads will be well-drilled, we'll prepare in the rightway and we will go there excited to do as well as we can.”
Conner Rennison remains the only absentee for Pools as he
nurses a knee injury but, other than that, McGuckin will have a fully-fit squad
to select from.The game kicks-off at 7.30pm and admission at Seaham Red Star is £2 for adults and £1 for concessions.