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| Alex Coleman scored the winner at Crewe |
The competition is in its inaugural season and I don't think many pundits would have predicted a quarter final tie between Exeter and Burnley.
Both clubs place a big emphasis on youth development but both are currently Category 3 clubs under the Elite Player Performance Plan although Burnley's academy manager Jason Blake told Clarets Mad that we are pushing hard to achieve a Category 2 academy as soon as possible.
Exeter are viewing this as a big game tonight and are expecting a crowd close to a thousand. They've already beaten Torquay, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Blackburn in recent rounds with the Southampton win probably the one that was the biggest upset of all.
Their manager Paul Tisdale said: "It's a game that could put us into the semi-final of a national competition, so it's a big game. I'm viewing this as if it was a Johnstone's Paint Trophy game or a standard first team game because it's a big game for the club."
There is no team news from either camp as yet but Exeter are expected to have the more experienced team. All of Matt Grimes, Scott Bennett, Danny Butterfield and Matt Oakley have been involved in previous rounds for them and Tisdale is considering which of his first team squad will feature.
Burnley have confirmed that no members of the first team squad will be involved so it will be very much an under-21 team that lines up for us, and the starting eleven is likely to be selected from: Danijel Nizic, Cameron Dummigan, Alex Coleman, Tom Anderson, Jack Errington, Luke Conlan, Kyle Brownhill, Micah Evans, Steven Hewitt, Archie Love, Luke Gallagher, Cameron Howieson, Jamie Frost, Jason Gilchrist.
Our progress in the competition is a result of wins against Wigan, Crewe, Sunderland and Bolton with all but the Crewe game at Turf Moor.
There have been some last gasp wins too. We drew the Wigan game 0-0 after extra time and then went on to win on penalties. In the next two rounds against Crewe and Sunderland we came from 1-0 behind to win 2-1, the winner on both occasions coming in stoppage time from defenders. Captain Alex Coleman got the winner at Crewe with Luke Conlan on target in the Sunderland win.
The Bolton win was a comfortable one, a 3-0 victory at Turf Moor in December. That takes our total number of goals scored in the competition to seven and with seven different scorers.
Former Claret Ryan Noble got the first at Crewe before Coleman's winner and the equaliser against Sunderland was scored by Luke Gallagher before Conlan struck late. Cameron Howieson, Jason Gilchrist and Jamie Frost all scored in the win against Bolton.
Kick off tonight at Exeter is 7 p.m. and admission is £7 (adults) and £3 (under-16s). There are no concessions for seniors.