Clarets face Tranmere in first of the youth cups

Last updated : 18 July 2014 By Tony Scholes

We'll enter the FA Youth Cup just before Christmas and we will also play in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup, but firstly we will take part in the Youth Alliance Cup.

This is a knock out competition featuring all the teams in our league and the North East Division with the ultimate winners facing the South winners in the final.

This season we kick off with a home game against Tranmere which is expected to be played on the last Saturday in August, although this isn't, as yet, confirmed. If so, it will come one week after our away game against the same opponents in the league.

I would hope Terry Pashley and Andy Farrell have the players practicing penalties in the week leading up to the game given our recent record in this competition.

Back in the 2004/05 season we reached the final against Swindon. Cayne Hanley gave us a 1-0 lead on the Turf but Swindon equalised very late to take it to extra time. It remained at 1-1 and we lost the penalty shoot out 5-3 with Lukas Jutkiewicz, who had come on as a substitute, scoring one of the spot kicks, who also had goalkeeper Jon Stewart on the bench.

There was no sign of a penalty shoot out in either of the next two seasons but since then we have been knocked out of this competition in six of the last seven seasons on penalties, including last season when we were beaten by eventual league champions Blackpool.

Hartlepool, Shrewsbury, Wigan twice, Notts County as well as Blackpool have won shoot outs against us and in the one season we were actually beaten, by Walsall in 2012/13, it came via a goal deep into stoppage time.

This season's full draw

HARTLEPOOL v WIGAN
BURTON v NOTTS COUNTY
MORECAMBE v DONCASTER
CARLISLE v HULL
PRESTON v ROCHDALE
CHESTERFIELD v SCUNTHORPE
GRIMSBY v BLACKPOOL
YORK v FLEETWOOD
WREXHAM v ACCRINGTON
ROTHERHAM v MANSFIELD
BURY v PORT VALE
WALSALL v OLDHAM
BURNLEY v TRANMERE