U18 CUP PREVIEW | Erith & Belvedere v Charlton

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Charlton's U18s take on Erith & Belvedere in the second round of the FA Youth Cup at the Acclaim Handling Community Stadium on Thursday night (KO 7.45pm GMT).

Jason Pearce's side claimed a 4-1 triumph over Bury Town in the opening round, with Patrick Casey netting a hat-trick and Micah Mbick also scoring.

Meanwhile, the Deres secured their space in round two with a 3-0 win over Walton & Hersham.

Fans can attend Thursday's tie with admission priced at £5 for O16s, £3 for U16s and U12s go free.

The full address for the stadium is: Acclaim Handling Community Stadium, Park View Road, Welling, DA16 1SY.

Looking ahead to the cup clash, Academy Director Steve Avory said: “We always look forward to the FA Youth Cup - we have a squad that is very capable. The objective is to get as far as we can in this competition and the ambition is certainly to get to the later rounds. We have to start at round one which we did and now we look forward to Erith & Belvedere. This squad for sure is capable of going a long way in this competition in my opinion.

“Our side is full of quality players in all areas of the pitch, lots of pace and clinical finishers like Patrick Casey and of course Micah Mbick; it will be interesting to see how that partnership plays out in the FA Youth Cup.

"The pace of Henry Rylah and Kai Enslin, solidity in midfield for sure with people like Keenan Gough who has played in the U21s and Josh Laqeretabua who has played regularly at U21 level as well. We are optimistic about progressing."

Last season, the young Addicks suffered a 3-2 loss against Newcastle United at The Valley at the third-round stage.

“We were very disappointed last year to go out in the third round," added Avory. "We felt on the night we played enough good football to progress, but we also found out that in this competition you have got teams that are clinical if you don’t get it right out of possession and that is what happened to us."

Thursday's winners will travel to Huddersfield Town in the next round. All third-round ties are to be played by Saturday, December 16th, with kick-off 7pm unless mutually agreed otherwise

Charlton fans can support the academy by signing up to the Valley Gold scheme. Valley Gold enables fans to support the club's academy in unearthing the talents of tomorrow, as well as giving them the chance to win cash prizes.

Click here for more information on how you can become a Valley Gold member.

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