Defence of the FA Cup starts tonight

[Mumsafan]

Liverpool's Academy starlets are in action tonight when they begin the defence of their FA Youth Cup with a trip to the Hawthorns to take on West Bromwich Albion at 7pm.
The Reds won the FA Youth Cup last season with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City in the final and coach John Owens hopes the young Reds can rise to the occasion against the Baggies.

From the team that won the competition last season the Reds won't have the likes of Paul Anderson, Adam Hammill, Godwin Antwi, Jack Hobbs and Miki Roque available as they are now beyond the age limit required for the FA Youth Cup.

"We have great memories from winning the youth cup last season and we want to give a good account of ourselves again this year," Owens told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"It is nice to have a good run in the youth cup as it is good for players' development so they have a taste of playing at bigger grounds to sample the atmosphere and enjoy the experience.

"We have players who played in last season's competition like Charlie Barnett, Jay Spearing and Jimmy Ryan plus the Melwood lads in Craig Lindfield, Ryan Flynn, Robbie Threlfall and Stephen Darby.

"We have already played West Brom this season when we threw the lead away near the end when it finished 1-1. They will have Michael Nardiello leading their attack who played for us last season so he will be wanting to do well.

"We are looking forward to the game and hopefully we can go on a good run again."

[zimbo]

The Reds won the FA Youth Cup last season with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City in the final and coach John Owens hopes the young Reds can rise to the occasion against the Baggies.

He used to be my Maths teacher many moons ago.
Was also my manager in the school footy team.

Can't say as I liked him too much, mind He was always going on about how he played for Altringham v Liverpool in the FA Cup in about 1979.
And his nose and chin always looked like they were about to meet, which can never be a good thing.

Further interesting facts are available from all good delicatessens, hardware stores and tobacconists.
I thank you

[Mumsafan]

[lfc4ever]

WBA Yth 1, Liverpool Yth 2 (After extra-time)

Dec 7 2006

By Chris Wright, Daily Post

RAY PUTTERILL'S extra-time strike ensured holders Liverpool went through to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup as they beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 after extra-time at the Hawthorns last night.

Despite having much of the play in the third round tie and taking a fourth-minute lead through Robbie Threlfall the young Liverpool side, coached by Steve Heighway and John Owens, had to wait until five minutes into the first period of extra-time to book their passage.

Liverpool featured several of the squad who secured the 3-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City in May when they lifted the FA Youth Cup for only the second time in the club's history.

One of those was captain Stephen Darby, who had to travel from Liverpool Airport to the Midlands to play in the match after being on the bench for the first-team's 3-2 Champions League defeat to Galatasaray in Turkey the previous night.

The right-back from Maghull showed no ill-effects from his hectic schedule and produced a typically solid performance as he did throughout last year's run to Youth Cup success.

If Darby was feeling any effects from his Istanbul trip, his team-mates certainly showed no tardiness in their approach to the tie. Liverpool went ahead in the fourth minute when defender Threlfall - who headed the equalising goal in the semi-final with Southampton last season - flicked on Ryan Wignall's corner to score.

But the home side equalised after 30 minutes through Stefan Morrison.

Liverpool pressed for the winner and had plenty of possession, but failed to take their chances with Putterill and Jay Spearing going close.

With extra-time looming Liverpool almost won the tie. West Brom keeper John Bateman made an excellent save from Putterill, but Lee Woodward could only fire the rebound over the bar.

Putterill was again denied by the home keeper early in the extra period, but the Liverpool forward finally found the net with a 20-yard drive to put Liverpool in the hat for the fourth-round draw which takes place tomorrow lunchtime.

Coach Owens said: "It was a typical cup tie with neither side dominating and both not wanting to make a mistake. It is like the third round of the FA Cup where there are upsets. We saw Manchester City, who have a strong side again, go out last week on penalties and several others like Leeds and Ipswich have also been beaten so we didn't want to follow them.

"The lads were a bit nervous as can be the case in these games but in the end we are just pleased to be through."

WBA YOUTH: Bateman, Mason, Baker, Labadie, Manchester, Holmes, McGovern, Compton, Morrison, Nardiello, Nicholson. LIVERPOOL YOUTH: Roberts, Darby, Burns, Gaughan, Threlfall, Spearing, Wignall (Barnett 45), Ryan (Pringle 118), Lindfield, Flynn (Wood-ward 60), Putterill. Subs: Behan, Mimms.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=wba-yth-1%2D-liverpool-yth-2-%2Dafter-extra%2Dtime%2D%26method=full%26objectid=18223602%26page=2%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

[The_weatherman]

This Putteril fella seems to be scoring quite a bit - anyone know anything on him?

[Mumsafan]

Not even heard of him before

[lfc4ever]

Liverpool Academy Director Steve Heighway praised the spirit and effort of his young players as the Reds progressed to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup after a deserved 2-1 extra-time victory at West Bromwich Albion.
Ray Putterill was the match winner for Liverpool as the holders held their nerve to claim a place in the fourth round of the competition they won last season.

"It was a deserved victory and there was enough decent performances from the boys to see us through," Heighway told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"We had a spell in the first half when we didn't play well at all but we dominated the game in the second half and in extra-time.

"We didn't give West Brom too many opportunities and Robbie Threlfall and Stephen Darby were excellent for us at the back. Stephen only just arrived back from Istanbul on Wednesday afternoon after being with the first team and it's tremendous to come back from a 3,000 mile trip to play for us in the Youth Cup. Stephen has got such an amazing character.

"I was pleased for Ray to get his goal and he kept going all night. He plays at 100 mile an hour all of the time and he still has a lot to learn but he has got something about him.

"Jay Spearing was fantastic for us and I thought Charlie Barnett did very well when he came on in the second half.

"From last season's team we don't have natural wingers because Paul Anderson and Adam Hammill are now ineligible for this competition so we tried a different formation but we got through which was the main thing."

Look out for extended highlights of this game on Thursday afternoon on Liverpoolfc.tv.

---------------

So, maybe we should (the 1st team) be making more use of the natural wingers Anderson & Hammill then seeing they are too old for the Youth Cup?

[mersey86]

Good to hear. Stephen Darby sounds like a decent prospect - right back too. I'd really prefer us not to go chasing Lucas Neill if we have our own lads worthy of getting a chance.

[Mumsafan]

Darby did well last year

[mersey86]

We've let a few right-back hopefuls go over recent years - Otsemobor, Wright and Raven all got to the fringes of first-team football.

[lfc4ever]

We've let a few right-back hopefuls go over recent years - Otsemobor, Wright and Raven all got to the fringes of first-team football.

Bolton are allegedly chasing Ostemobor, who has yet to sign a new contract with Crewe.