Youngsters out to impress in Tuesday night's FA Youth Cup tie with Wigan
Exeter City’s under-18s coach Dan Green says his team are desperate to get further in the FA Youth Cup than the club has ever got before ahead of their third round tie against Wigan Athletic.
The Grecians made it through to the fourth round of the competition last season before losing 2-1 at home to Preston North End.
However, that was the first time in four seasons that the club had managed to make it beyond the third round stage and Dan and his players are looking to emulate that success and possibly do better this season.
He says first team manager Paul Tisdale and academy manager Simon Hayward are constantly pushing the players coming through the academy to do better than the footballers that have gone before them.
“I think the bar has been raised from the academy’s point of view, during the past 10 years that Paul and Simon have been at the club,” said Dan. “It is pleasing to have made it past the first two rounds, but we want more. We want to get further than we’ve ever got before, but we have to take each round as it comes.”
Dan says the key to beating Wigan next Tuesday will be playing their own game to the best of their ability. However, he admits the players have already been researching what they can about their opponents in a bid to make it into the fourth round.
“It is definitely about how we approach the game,” said Dan. “We will look at what Wigan do because we want to give the boys every opportunity that we can, but I think more importantly it is about what we do. I know the players want to see what Wigan have got and that again is a positive sign with their mentality. They are willing to go above and beyond to watch footage of Wigan and see what they can find out about them.”
The match against Wigan kicks-off at 7.30pm at St James Park. Supporters can get into watch the game at £5 for adults, £3 for seniors and £1 for under-18s.