We spoke to Mark Birch, ahead of the game against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Youth Cup.
He began by saying: “I think we're feeling confident. I think everybody's looking forward to the night and the occasion.
"The preparations are underway and everybody's looking forward to it now."
On the opponents, Mark said: “They're a very front-foot team, a bit like us to be honest.
"We're expecting a tough game but I think it's two teams that seem to be evenly matched but we'll see how the night goes.”
Speaking on the squad's fitness going into Tuesday's game, Birch said: “I think we've got most people back and there's only Will Nicholson who's long-term injury now, from there everyone's got a clean bill of health so the S&Cs and the physios within the team have done a great job getting them back to not just coming back from injury but maintaining the fitness levels as well.”
Having found the net in Altrincham and Barnsley in round one and two, respectively, Lewis Lambert is one of many players who could provide a selection headache going into this one.
“Lewis always gives us headaches for selection because he's a good player, sometimes I don't think he believes in what a good player he can be and every time he's been called upon he's done a great job for the team and he does score goals, not just your normal goals, he's capable, if you get the ball onto his left-foot, he's capable of smashing them from anywhere.
“With everybody being back now we've got James Murray who's been out for a while, we've got Seb Mason who's been out for quite a few weeks, Mason Fleming coming back who's been out since pre-season, so everybody seems to be coming back at the right time and I'd say we've got some selection issues going forward.”
The Blues progressed to this stage with a 4-1 win (AET) against Altrincham, and a 1-0 win at Barnsley. Mark discussed what he’d learned from those matches, stating: “I think when your back's against the wall and you stand up to it, like the Barnsley game for the last probably 35 minutes they were throwing everything at us but didn't really hurt us.
“The back three on the night were fantastic, Thomas Randall probably had the game of his life but not just that, the effort the lads put in, in front of him to stop crosses, to make blocks on the edge of the box, it was one of them nights where we didn't really see a lot of the ball but they stood up physically to everything that they threw at us.”
It’s set to be quite the occasion under the lights at Brunton Park, we asked Mark if the step up in atmosphere is something that prompted him and Jamie Devitt to manage things differently. He responded: “We have to make sure everything's done as professional as possible, the prep for the game must be as close to what you can expect for the first team, the analysis, the meetings that we have - we've got to train the lads and educate the lads on how to deal with these big occasions.”
Speaking to supporters, Birch said: “It would be great if we can get as many people down, come support the lads and try to get a couple of names in and around the supporters so they know a little bit about what we're doing.”
Finally, Mark spoke about what it would mean to go into the hat for round four, saying: “It would mean everything to be honest, it just gives us belief in the whole academy that what we're doing is right.
"It gives them that little bit of a profile as well if you've got players going through the rounds and I say it brings a little bit of exposure as well and I say it gives us belief in what we're doing and exposure to the academy as a whole.”
