FA Youth Cup 2025/6

[Snowflake Royal]

I always find it a bit strange that when teams enter the Youth Cup is based on the status of their first team and not the academy status i.e. - we as a club with the top Academy status have to enter at round 1 rather than round 3 whilst a Championship club with a lower rated academy get a bye to round 3.

You would think it would make sense to use the academy status.

Yeah, that's bonkers.

[Royals and Racers]

Date announced for 2nd round tie v Cheltenham Town is Wednesday 12th November SCL stadium KO 7pm

[RG30]

Tickets on-sale now. £4 Adults.

[Royals and Racers]

Date announced for 2nd round tie v Cheltenham Town is Wednesday 12th November SCL stadium KO 7pm

Hopefully a few tickets sold and the U 18’s get a decent attendance.

[Clyde1998]

Date announced for 2nd round tie v Cheltenham Town is Wednesday 12th November SCL stadium KO 7pm

Hopefully a few tickets sold and the U 18’s get a decent attendance.

Not looking great - seems only 98 sold so far. Would say the club haven't advertised it very well so far.

[Stranded]

Date announced for 2nd round tie v Cheltenham Town is Wednesday 12th November SCL stadium KO 7pm

Hopefully a few tickets sold and the U 18’s get a decent attendance.

Not looking great - seems only 98 sold so far. Would say the club haven't advertised it very well so far.

Hardly a glamour tie - imagine most people will wait and see what the weather and traffic is like on Weds before making a decision to go.

[Clyde1998]

Hopefully a few tickets sold and the U 18’s get a decent attendance.

Not looking great - seems only 98 sold so far. Would say the club haven't advertised it very well so far.

Hardly a glamour tie - imagine most people will wait and see what the weather and traffic is like on Weds before making a decision to go.

True. Would've been good to have the game on Saturday, with our first team game at Wigan postponed - but that must've not have been possible.

Bracknell was something very different; had a large amount of Bracknell fans at it; was half term; and came on the day of the club's open training session. This is none of those things.

[RG30]

IN! for this tonight

[Royals and Racers]

Pullinger
Booth
Cliff
Nour
Dove
Irish
Hunte
Beacroft
J Ntege- Jubilee
J Ntege-Joseph
Fuller-Thompson
SUBS
Martin-Grant
Yensu
Adjei
Heywood
Agyekum
Daka
Kaninda

[Clyde1998]

Looks like 214 tickets sold for tonight so far.

[Royals and Racers]

Reading 0 Cheltenham 1 8 mins
0-2 9 mins

[Clyde1998]

Reading 0 Cheltenham 1 8 mins
0-2 9 mins

Deserved as well unfortunately.

[Sutekh]

Reading 0 Cheltenham 1 8 mins
0-2 9 mins

Deserved as well unfortunately.

Well there’s always next year.

[Royals and Racers]

H-T 0-2
1-2 61 mins Fuller-Thompson
2-2 90+ 5 Cliff
F-T 2-2 into 30 mins ET
H-T ET 2-2
F-T ET 2-2 Pens it is !!
Cheltenham taking 1st and score 1-0
Reading miss 1-0
Cheltenham score 2-0
Reading score 2-1
Cheltenham score 3-1
Reading score 3-2
Cheltenham miss 3-2
Reading score 3-3
Cheltenham miss 3-3
Reading score 4-3 and WIN

[Royals and Racers]

Bit of a wait i reckon before the draw for the 3rd round which i expect on Friday 21st November- 3rd round is where the 44 Premier and Championship teams enter to join the 20 2nd round winners.
The 3rd round should be played by Saturday 13th December.

[Clyde1998]

Bit surprised to get back into this. Switching Fuller-Thompson from the left wing to striker helped a lot, as did the half-time subs (Adjei and Grant). Cheltenham still could've won the game themselves however.

The attendance ended up as 325.

[RG30]

Started slowly and Cheltenham were worthy of the 2 goal lead. Second half we were much improved and the injury for us at a good time as it led to a lengthy delay and shortly after we pulled one back. Credit to our 'keeper who made a brilliant save at 2-1, how he got fingers to it I don't know but the late equalizer took it to extra time. In the end, penalties settled the tie and we came out on top.

Let's hope for a good 3rd Round tie.

[Clyde1998]

Started slowly and Cheltenham were worthy of the 2 goal lead. Second half we were much improved and the injury for us at a good time as it led to a lengthy delay and shortly after we pulled one back. Credit to our 'keeper who made a brilliant save at 2-1, how he got fingers to it I don't know but the late equalizer took it to extra time. In the end, penalties settled the tie and we came out on top.

Let's hope for a good 3rd Round tie.

Looked like concussion for Anthony Dove (#5), so hopefully there's nothing too serious coming from that. Agree we improved after that and got our first soon after - good dink in by, IIRC, Adjei (#14) and Fuller-Thompson (#11) chested home. Was an incredible save by Pullinger (#1) - although wasn't that in extra-time?

Have noticed we haven't played a 'full strength' side in either FA Youth Cup game this season, which may explain why we've struggled at times. The risk just about paid off last night.

Six of the starting XI last night had started in less than half of our U18 minutes (league + FA Youth Cup) this season prior to last night: Pullinger (although Borgnis has been with New Zealand at the U17 World Cup); Cliff (#3); Nour (#4); Hunte (#7); Jubilee Ntege (#9); Joseph Ntege (#10). Everyone on the bench had played less than a quarter of minutes.

Those who have played over half the U18 minutes this season and were missing were (in order of minutes): Covus; Borgnis; Omoregie (was it him who got injured against Bracknell?); Zie; and St Louis. Obviously youth football is primarily about development, so minutes will probably get spread out a bit anyway.

The next round features all the Premier League and Championship U18 teams, plus the twenty winners from this round:

1. Peterborough
2. Stevenage
3. Barnsley or Mansfield
4. Grimsby or Doncaster
5. Northampton or Port Vale
6. Blackpool or Aylestone Park
7. Rotherham or Fleetwood
8. Plymouth or Milton Keynes
9. Gillingham or Forest Green
10. Barnet or Colchester
11. Tiverton or Cambridge
12. Tranmere or Bolton
13. Crewe or Halifax
14. Bradford or York
15. Wycombe or Bromley
16. Needham Market or Southend
17. Wigan or Walsall
18. Oxford City or Walton & Hersham
19. Swindon or Dorking

[Clyde1998]

Not a glamour tie, but a good test in Round Three - Middlesbrough at home: https://www.thefa.com/news/2025/nov/14/ ... w-20251411

1. Oxford United v Wigan Athletic or Walsall
2. Needham Market or Southend United v Swindon Town or Dorking Wanderers
3. Newcastle United v Portsmouth
4. Crewe Alexandra or FC Halifax Town v Barnet or Colchester United
5. Barnsley or Mansfield Town v Arsenal
6. Rotherham United or Fleetwood Town v Blackpool or Aylestone Park
7. Bristol City v Leeds United
8. Sunderland v Nottingham Forest
9. Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton & Hove Albion
10. West Bromwich Albion v AFC Bournemouth
11. Millwall v Everton
12. Tranmere Rovers or Bolton Wanderers v Leicester City
13. Blackburn Rovers v Southampton
14. Manchester City v Fulham
15. Manchester United v Peterborough United
16. Coventry City v Birmingham City
17. Wrexham v Northampton Town or Port Vale
18. Reading v Middlesbrough
19. Queens Park Rangers v Oxford City or Walton & Hersham
20. Norwich City v Stoke City
21. Hull City v Swansea City
22. Crystal Palace v Bradford City or York City
23. Watford v Plymouth Argyle or Milton Keynes Dons
24. Tiverton Town or Cambridge United v Derby County
25. Wycombe Wanderers or Bromley v Sheffield Wednesday
26. Burnley v Wolverhampton Wanderers
27. Grimsby Town or Doncaster Rovers v Aston Villa
28. Sheffield United v Ipswich Town
29. Gillingham or Forest Green Rovers v Stevenage
30. Brentford v Chelsea
31. Preston North End v West Ham United
32. Liverpool v Charlton Athletic

[Royals and Racers]

Boro are 7th out of 14 in the PL U 18 North table. We are currently 12th out of 15 in the South Div