Draw’s a ‘dream’ for Town’s U18s
CAMBERLEY HAVE TO GET PAST BRISTOL ROVERS AND SUTTON FIRST
EXCITED manager Craig Green conceded he was both “fascinated and frustrated” that his Camberley Town U18s side have been drawn to play away to Liverpool in the FA Youth Cup third round and reckoned, “it’s a dream for the boys on paper but it’s so far away”.
The downside is his young Krooners have to negotiate their way past Bristol Rovers first and then Sutton United in the second round to earn a crack on Merseyside, with the postponement of games involving nonelite clubs causing a backlog of fixtures.
“It’s fascinating and frustrating at the same time,” said Green. “It’s a long shot, but it’s just the way things are going at this moment in time with football and they are going against the underdog.
“Everyone else we have to play can train, play games, do what they want. We have to turn up and play them without training or having played games.
“The boys have got a dream, but it has to be Bristol Rovers first.”
In fact the Bristol Rovers tie has been arranged for Wednesday December 16, so will give Green’s side at least some preparation time, with the lockdown due to end on December 2.
Green said: “It’s also behind closed doors, with no fans, which is a bit disappointing.
“And it’s causing the club a bigger issue which I don’t think many people in the football world understand. When you play FA Cup games you have to share the profit or the loss of the tie. We have to go down to Bristol and they have told us they are going to have more than £350-worth of stewarding for an empty ground. So it’s going to cost the club to play the game. They are expecting a bill of between £600 and £1,000. We’ll have to try and sort that out.”
Not being able to play Isthmian Youth League matches could hamper Camberley, but there could not be a bigger carrot.
“This year is going to be really hard for the underdogs but what a draw, what a dream for these players,” he added. “We played Westonsuper-Mare in third qualifying. We were 1-0 down three minutes into stoppage time and drew 1-1.
“We knew the winners would be playing Bristol Rovers away and obviously Weston saw that as a bit of a derby and were well up for it. We beat them on penalties.
“So the boys were over the moon to be playing a Football League club at their ground [Rovers], then the next draw came through with Sutton United who also play in our league, and then the next one – the winners play Liverpool.
“While it’s on paper and in touching distance it’s just so far away. One game at a time, and we focus on Bristol Rovers first.
“We regularly play Woking and they beat Leyton Orient in the previous round and so maybe that gives our boys a little bit of hope that perhaps we could upset the cards against Bristol Rovers.
“We played Rovers five years ago and took them to extra time and I will never forget we were a Paul Gascoigne toe away from sliding one in, in extra time, and then they went up the other end and scored.
“It was devastating and they were a good side then. We had 200 people there at Krooner Park, but away from home it’s just going to be such a good environment to play against a full-time academy. I think they have had a promotion since we played them last and obviously they are still playing [during lockdown]. It’s going to be tough.”