Sam’s Section: Brice-Ingles wants Slimbridge to embrace home advantage in FA Youth Cup despite limited preparation for Manor Farm clash
Slimbridge u18s manager, Kieran Brice-Ingles, hopes his side will embrace having another FA Youth Cup tie at Thornhill Park despite their limited preparation ahead of their clash with Bristol Manor Farm u18s on Thursday.
Brice-Ingles side are set for a tough test against Manor Farm in their First Qualifying Round tie which for the young Swans takes place on their home turf, just like their previous round.
The Swans defeated Gloucester City u18s to reach this stage in front of a well-received home crowd at Thornhill Park which Brice-Ingles hopes will appear again on Thursday night to help his players out.
“The lads can’t wait and neither can the club. Barry [Gay] the chairman is excited and as is our supporters and parents. Having the game at home really does add to the excitement of the fixture.
“As seen at the Gloucester game these lads get very good support and everyone really does back the u18s along with the first team to be successful.
“I’m hoping with the tie being played at Thornhill Park the lads really embrace it again and give the supporters something to cheer about and something that they can be proud of,” Brice-Ingles said.
It was a positive performance last time out from the Swans with areas to improve upon during their 3-2 win with Kieran Bennett firing home just 23 seconds in before the young Swans needed to come from behind to progress.
But this was a victory Brice-Ingles didn’t witness being away at the time but was quick to watch back the performance in which he was more than happy with and believes the team are still feeling the high heading into their next clash.
“They’re still buzzing off the fact we got the win in the end and are looking forward to tomorrow, as is the coaching team.
“Even though I wasn’t there, once the VEO footage came through I watched the full game back so I could gauge how we did play.
“I’ve had long conversations with the coaching team on the day on who to them stood out and the same names rang around, Joel Jagger, Shamar Thomas, Marley Johnson, who played off the back of a 90 minute game the day before, Kieran Bennett and Josh Barclay,” he said.
Shamar Thomas put in a player of the match worthy performance during the 3-2 victory alongside Marley Johnson who the night before had played a full 90 minutes for Hardwicke during their Reg Davis Memorial Cup defeat to Tredworth Tigers.
But since that victory two weeks ago, Brice-Ingles’ side haven’t played a single fixture with their Cheltenham Floodlit League season yet to start compared to other sides which the boss says hasn’t been great to deal with.
“It has been difficult really, we had Tuffley and Evesham games scheduled in between which were cancelled and would’ve been perfect for all the lads to get game-time together before Bristol Manor Farm.”
“Alena our secretary worked as hard as she could to try and get us a game but with no success.
“We had a training session last week where we worked on shape and possession. The session was really good, high quality and intensity which is what we want to bring to every game we play, but most importantly the lads enjoyed it and had a good laugh.
“If you were to ask me if we’re ready for the game, I’d say we’re always ready, we’re blessed that most of our lads play at a high standard on Saturdays and have been training and playing regularly which from our side of things works perfectly for us,” he said.
And the Swan’s will be looking to reach the Second Qualifying Round for the first time since 2022 in a season that saw the club complete a league and cup double under coach Tom Hitchings.
But Brice-Ingles doesn’t just want to match that outcome, he and his side want to go even further and create their own success stamping a new place in the clubs history.
“We always want to be better. Two years ago Tom Hitchings really did set the bar high with the double and a good run in the FA Youth Cup, but the lads want to go one or more better.
“They were asking in the group chat over the last few days what round we were in, so I do think it’s at the back of their minds.
“For me and the club I think it’s all about being competitive. We’ve already bettered last year’s run so we’re on a positive already, but now it’s down to those lads on the pitch to determine how far we will go,” he said.
READ MORE: Check out the fixtures in and around Gloucestershire this Saturday right here
READ MORE: Check out the Women’s fixtures in and around Gloucestershire this Sunday right here
