Following their first point of the season, Exeter City's under-18s return to the Cliff Hill for the first time in three weeks to host Cambridge United.

The young Grecians fought back from 3-1 down against Northampton to claim a point, giving City a positive base to build off heading into a busy Autumn. 

Under-18 Lead Coach Nicky Ajose's thoughts

Lead Coach Nicky Ajose sat down to preview Saturday’s under-18s fixture while also reflecting on the successes of the last week.

As well as the 3-3 draw at Northampton, several under-18 players starred in Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy win against Tottenham under-21s, and a photo of them celebrating around fellow academy player Jake Richards after his goal brought a smile to Ajose’s face.

“Amazing, an amazing image when I was shown by one of the staff,” Nicky said. “You can’t quite see but in the background of that, to the corner, is the remaining scholars, who were there to support the team.

“It’s an amazing moment for us to finish with five or six scholars on the pitch, schoolboys as well.”

Onto this Saturday’s game, Nicky wants his side to build on their positive result and performance at Northampton, by imposing themselves on Cambridge United.

“Can we make the majority of the game look the way we want it to look, and impose our style, something that we’re confident to do.

“We know we’re going to have to struggle and fight and scrap to get the game where we want it to be.

“If we can we’ll be in more of a position to show more of the things the players can do really well.”

Hear more from Nicky ⬇️

Cambridge Under-18 Results

• Cambridge United 1-3 Swindon Town - Youth Alliance League
• Cambridge United 3-4 Stevenage - Youth Alliance Cup
• Portsmouth 3-0 Cambridge United - Youth Alliance League
• Cambridge United 3-3 Bristol Rovers - Youth Alliance League
• Oxford United 1-4 Cambridge United - Youth Alliance League

Under-18s player Kieran Wilson's thoughts

Under-18 winger Kieran Wilson shared his thoughts about a tough start to the season and this weekend’s game with us.

The left winger scored and assisted during last Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Northampton Town, which renewed confidence in himself and the team as a whole.

“It was a very good performance from the boys, obviously we’ve had a tough start to the season so far, a lot of negative results but we’ve been in every game,” Kieran said.

“It was a good game at the weekend for us, brings back confidence to the team, and we showed what we can do on the ball. 

“But it was silly mistakes that cost us the three points.”

Onto this weekend’s game, Kieran believes that the team are playing well, and the first three points of the season is only sorting a few mistakes away.

“We play a very good way of football, just our end product needs to develop a little bit more, its silly mistakes that cost us games.

“This week we’ll touch up on a few of those bits and hopefully walk away with the three points.”

Hear more from the Scotsman ⬇️

How to follow

Updates will be available on the Academy's X page, @ECFC_Academy.