Wanderers will be bidding to bridge a six-year gap to reach the third round of the FA Youth Cup when they go to Tranmere Rovers tonight (Wednesday), writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites last reached round three – where a visit from Leicester City awaits the winners of this evening’s tie at Prenton Park – in 2019/20, the season Wanderers dropped back into League One.
That ‘run’ included a bye and a win over Burton Albion before defeat to Millwall in the third round and Julian Darby’s youngsters will be looking to match that progress with victory on Merseyside.
“It’s a long time since the club got to the third round and that’s what we’ll be trying to do,” said U18s’ head coach Darby after four successive round two exits for the young Whites.
“After that it’s all ifs and buts. It won’t be an easy game at Tranmere but that’s the target – to get through. Ideally, we’d like to play a bit better than in the first round but this is cup football and it’s about trying to find a way to win.
"We might have a couple of players back who missed the last round and it’s another test for them on a Football League ground with the chance to try and progress.”
Wanderers negotiated round one with a 2-1 home win over Chester, coming from behind to progress with goals from Toby Ritchie and Lucas Kirkpatrick.
Second-year scholar Ritchie then scored on his first-team debut, coming off the bench to net in a 6-2 victory over Oldham Athletic in the Vertu Trophy last week.
He was due to line up against Tranmere – who beat Harrogate Town 4-0 in round one – 24 hours after his big night at Boundary Park.
With the original tie at Rovers postponed last Wednesday night Ritchie and his Wanderers’ team-mates have had to wait a little longer but now get the chance to try and make up for lost time to extend their run and set up a visit from the Foxes.
Kick-off at Prenton Park is 7pm with admission £6 adults, £4 seniors/18-22 year-olds and £2 under-18s.
Coverage will be available via Wanderers' social media channels and watch out for an interview with Head of Academy, Dave Gardiner, later today.