FA Youth cup interview

After over 240 minutes of football and two penalty shoot-outs, Spartans U18's finally overcame Bradford City in the first round of the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night. Max Campbell was the hero in the end, making his fourth penalty save of the evening to send Spartans through to the second round of the competition for the very first time.

Lead academy coach Marc Nash was in buoyant mood when looking back on the two drama-filled games, saying: “I'm absolutely delighted to be through at last. We've went toe-to-toe with a League Two academy twice, and come out on top.

"There was an extra determination amongst the lads, having been handed another chance, and we wanted to make the most of that chance."

Throughout their run to the second round, Nash and Graham Fenton's side have played a lot of free-flowing, attacking football, with their young side often showing a great deal of character and determination, having won comprehensively and rescued games in the last minute multiple times.

When reflecting on the run so far, Nash said: “We're unbelievably proud of the run so far and of the players, who have now made history taking the club this far.

"We are now only one win away from a potential tie against a Premier League academy side, so this is stuff of fairytales for us all”.

When asked to pick out one moment from the run that summed up the team's character, his mind immediately went back to their fourth qualifying round tie away at Rochdale in October.

“It has to be that late, late equaliser,” he explained. "We were chasing the game and leaving gaps, but we showed incredible belief to snatch the draw and then win on pens. The Newcastle Blue Star manager has had a successful career in local senior football management, but his run with this crop of talented youngsters is 'is right up there' according to Nash.

He explained “I've had success at senior level but this is special as we are mixing it with some big clubs and the lads are showing they are better. I recall beating AFC Fylde a few years ago with the 2021 squad, and that night was really special, but the current lads are overshadowing that with this run. The memories being created here are fantastic”.

Looking ahead to the next week's second round tie at Accrington Stanley, Marc added “The cup has taken over everything, it seems and our league schedule is taking a hit - but you wouldn't want to swap this opportunity for anything”.