NEAL ARDLEY REPORTS ON THE LATEST FROM THE ACADEMY

We have an important spell coming up for the Under-18s, with Tranmere Rovers at home in the F.A. Youth Cup Third Round here at Ninian Park at 7pm on Tuesday January 13th , then Bristol City at home next Saturday in the Academy League, followed by Ely Rangers (away) the following Tuesday in the Third Round of the F.A. of Wales Youth Cup.

Our mid-winter break ended recently, and the players were back in last Saturday for fitness testing, and that was followed by a friendly against Swindon Town at Treforest as part of our build-up for the Tranmere match.

We lost against Swindon 4-3, and most of our squad got in a ninety-minute spell in a match that was played in three periods of thirty minutes each. Yesterday we played Nottingham Forest at their training ground, so these two recent matches should have got us all match-fit and ready for next Tuesday.

We expected a degree of rustiness against Swindon, even though the players have had fitness-programmes to follow over the holiday period. There were a lot of mistakes made against Swindon, hopefully the fixture against Forest yesterday went better, and everything will have been ironed out before the Tranmere Cup match.

As to what our line-up will be against Tranmere, I will decide on the performances against Swindon and Nottingham Forest. My coaches and I will look at what happened in those games, and select on that basis.

We have had information on what to expect from Tranmere - they are a very strong side, but in terms of ability are very similar to us. So we are expecting a tough game on Tuesday.

The weather will be a factor, and hopefully temperatures will improve so that we can play against Tranmere and Bristol City. It's an important time for everyone because the first-years have had their breaking-in period, while the second-years have a few months ahead of them to show that they can earn a professional contract.