Havant and Waterlooville’s youngsters kick off their FA Youth Cup campaign away to Hamworthy United tomorrow night.

The young Hawks will field a side which is a mixture of both Pro:Direct Academy players and those which play for the HSDC side.

Ahead of the fixture, head of the PDA course Tony Stares has run us through what will be a tough test in Dorset.

He said: “It’s going to be a really difficult game as they’re a side who have played together through the age groups whilst for us it will be a mix of PDA Hampshire and HSDC students.

“It’s very important (the Youth Cup) because players don’t get the opportunity to play in The FA Youth Cup, so it will be a big occasion for any of the players that do play.

“We’ve played a couple of pre-season friendlies, we ran Portsmouth Academy Under 18’s quite close and we only lost 2-0 and they put a full strength side out.

“But, tomorrow will be different because sometimes your team in league matches will contain some older aged players, whereas tomorrow they’ve got to be Under 18, so it does make a difference.”

Such is the prestige of the competition, where matches have to be held at first team stadiums, it gives young players the chance to shine on the biggest of stages, with tomorrow, in front of a big crowd being no exception. 

“I think they’ll be quite a few fans with families coming down, supporting their sons – so I expect there to be a reasonable sized crowd. 

“It is quite a big deal for them, and for some of them it may be the only chance they get to play in an FA Cup Youth match.”

With new Covid restrictions in place, the academy has returned to training and teaching over the past few weeks, and Stares, along with coach and former Hawks player Joe Oastler, have adapted to the new measures.

“We’ve been in for around six to seven weeks, it’s slightly different to the college because we haven’t got as many restrictions but we stick to them and we managed to come back earlier than Sam at HSDC who has more regulations. 

“Our side have been back for four or five weeks, whereas Sam would have got his group together days before their first league match.”