Exeter City’s under-18s are in action away at Luton Town this Saturday at 2pm in the EFL Youth Alliance South.
Nicky Ajose’s team are still searching for their first win of the season after three tough defeats to Gillingham, AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth Argyle in the cup.
Saturday’s game won’t be short of goals with as the Grecians’ opponents won their last game 6-4 in a thrilling League Cup encounter against Ipswich Town.
Nicky Ajose’s thoughts
Former Grecians striker Nicky Ajose is now the permanent manager of the under-18s, and while he stressed results aren’t everything, he stated there was still plenty of room for improvement.
“Performances haven’t been where we’d like them to be, results haven’t been fantastic but ultimately that’s not the biggest metric we’ll go off,” Nicky said.
On this Saturday’s opponent, Nicky is aware of the attacking threat Luton can pose after the Hatters have scored nine in their last three games.
“Really good side, they’re going to attack quick,” Nicky explained. “They’ve got a lot of threats at the top of the pitch and we’re going to have to control the space they want to attack.”
“We’ve not done well enough in the first games, and we have to be better on the ball. We’re a team that prides ourselves on dominating the ball, playing the game we want to play.
“Ultimately, we’ve not been good enough with the ball in these first three games.”
Hear more from Nicky ⬇️
Luton Town under-18 results so far
- Luton 6-4 Ipswich Town - English U18 Professional Development League Cup
- Stevenage 2-1 Luton - Youth Alliance Cup
- Swindon Town 1-2 Luton - Youth Alliance League
- Luton 0-3 Oxford United - Youth Alliance League
Striker Theo Cutler's preview
Despite the under-18s losing their first few games of the season, Theo Cutler’s had a good start to the campaign, netting five goals in four games across the Youth Alliance League and Premier League Cup.
“I think so far it’s been alright,” Theo said. “We haven’t really managed to win but we’re playing good football, we just need to defend better, play as a team better.”
On this weekend’s match, Theo is sure that if the young Grecians play their football, they’ll do well against any team they face.
“We’ll just try and keep the ball, play our football and I’m sure the lads will win if we defend well.”
Hear more from Theo ⬇️
How to follow
Half-time and full-time updates will be posted on the official Academy X account, @ECFC_Academy.