Aston Villa’s run to the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals has been "invaluable" for the players, according to Lead PDP U18 Coach Sean Verity.
The Young Lions take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Tuesday night with a place in the last four at stake.
Villa have seen off Reading, Brighton and Burton Albion to get to this point and Verity says the squad have been growing in confidence with each win.
“A lot of them view this as a really important competition," he said. "There’s a lot of excitement around and it’s one of those competitions that gets the juices flowing.
“These big stages are the ones that seem to get them going, especially in this competition as well.
“It’s invaluable experience for what might happen in the future if they get to that point. That’s the beauty of going through a couple of rounds – they get more and more of these experiences.”
Villa play in the South section of the Under-18 Premier League, while opponents Newcastle ply their trade in the North section.
But the Villans will know all about the Magpies thanks to Assistant Lead PDP U18 Coach Liam Bramley, who spent over a decade working in Newcastle’s Academy before he moved to the midlands last year.
Bramley said: “I spent 11 years working at Newcastle and I had a fantastic experience there, they gave me my start in coaching.
“I’m grateful to them. It’s less than 12 months since I joined Aston Villa, so the players we’re going to come up against I’ve helped in some small part to get them to where they are.
“I know them particularly well, but we’ll have to see what happens on the night. Hopefully we come out on the right end of the result.”
The FA Youth Cup quarter-final will be shown live on VillaTV from 6.45pm on Tuesday and you can watch the game with a Match Pass for £1.99 below. All proceeds go to the Aston Villa Foundation.
