Head of Youth Dan Wilson targeting York City cup success

York under-19’s will make the trip to St George’s Park tomorrow afternoon with the aim of claiming back-to-back cup silverware, having won the competition last season, as Tim Ryan and Wilson’s side welcome the challenge of Maidstone United (5.30pm).

Wilson has been pleased with the progress the under-19’s have made this campaign by reaching the final again, and believes that the experience of playing at England’s St George’s Park will be hugely beneficial for the young York talents, with Wilson admitting that his side have been targeting this silverware since the season began.

“The academy cup is one that we target a little bit, we talk about it at the start of the season and we talk about that and the FA Youth Cup as tournaments that we want to do well in, I think it’s a really big motivation for the boys throughout the year,” Wilson explained.

“When those games come up, we try and win them. Development comes first most of the time and in the league development comes first, but in those cup games we know what those experiences look like at the end of them, and they are important for the kids’ journeys.

“Those that were there last year that are still part of the squad, there are about half of them. In terms of the boys who actually started the game last year, I think there is only one who started the game last year that is still here.

“A couple of them came on as subs, but it’s been a really big turnover from last year’s squad to this year’s squad, it’s a young squad.

“It’s really good for the boys, just to see it and have some different experiences.

“We play similar teams most of the year, but when you go to the home of football it is a real motivator for the boys to see what that part of the game looks like, the real top end professional part of the game.

“The grass is good, the training facilities are good and everything about them is looked after. It’s nice in general.

“We don’t [do too much work on Maidstone], maybe that’s an oversight but we have got quite a grounded group of boys and we’re quite at doing our own in the game.

“It’s a piece of grass with 22 players on, the reality is that wherever you go that bit doesn’t change.

“They’ve played at stadiums before, FA Youth cups before and we’re hoping that it shouldn’t be an issue.

“It’s dependant where we haven’t done loads this time, we really focus on us and how we play and we’re playing really well at the moment as a group.

“If we can get our bits right then we don’t need to worry as much about the opposition as we maybe would in previous years. We’re in a good place, and that is reflected in the work that we have done.

“I think it’s memories for life, it’s really nice that when we look at semi-finals and quarter-finals, some of the team that won it last year have been coming to watch those games.

“There is a group of them coming tomorrow to watch, which is amazing when you speak to them.

“The lads who probably start tomorrow weren’t in the squad last year but travelled, and they saw what that looked like and it’s been a huge motivator for them.

“We talk about experiences and being really important for young people, having some varied experiences and rich experiences of playing at St George’s Park is fantastic.

“The facilities, the environment, it feels like real football and it feels like what you want to be in football for.

“A big part of the group was there last year, not a lot of them got the minutes but a lot of them know what the day looks like. It helps, it’s a game of football against another team and wherever you play, at the LNER, St George’s Park, at the training ground, it’s just football and that’s what the lads are really focusing on.

“That’s reflective last year for how that looked for the young people, they took a lot from it and it’s a good motivator.

“For the boys to go back and do it again this year is a real high.”

Wilson also spoke on York’s journey to reach this stage, which included a nervy penalty shootout victory over Guiseley in the quarter-finals and a spirited triumph over Blyth Spartans in the semi-finals, as well as the club’s plans on the day of a memorable experience for the young City squad.

“We travel up tomorrow on the team coach, we’ve got a couple of pick-ups to do on the way but when we do get there we will have a little bit of food in the hotel and the football centre," Wilson explained.

“There is another game on before us, the regional cup final, so the boys might get the chance to watch that. They will have the time to walk around and see what the facilities look like, the St George’s staff are quite militant on where you can be. They can have a real good look around and see what it looks like.

“The penalty shootout win against Guiseley was a bit of a banana skin moment actually, we really dominated the game and thought we were really strong, we were on top and should have won it in normal time.

“We didn’t, and sometimes when that happens in games you think you might have lost your chance, but we were really confident that Sam [Taylor] was going to save some penalties and the boys took care of their penalties.

“The game against Blyth as well, we did really well against them and these aren’t teams that struggle in the league, these are top teams in our league.

“They have a lot of older boys and a lot of 19’s in their groups, so to come through those challenges was really good.

“I’ve been really pleased, it’s always a strange league is ours as it is an under-19’s league and every club looks at it differently.

“You’ve got clubs in there that are desperate to do whatever they can to win, you turn up and there are 17, 18, 19-year-old men and we’re turning out with under-16’s registered in ours.

“They’ve had to get out of school and are missing GCSE geography to play against men!

“We’ve got a really young group, even our second years with Bill [Marshall], Harley [Dawson], Alex [Hernandez], none of them have turned 18 yet and are like babies in their year.

“We rarely have an 18-year-old on the pitch, and if we do it is only a couple, but we do really well within the league.

Wilson and City will be without one member of their squad for tomorrow’s cup final, with striker Alex Hernandez unavailable through injury, which he has unfortunately struggled with throughout the season.

Wilson confirmed: “I think we’ve only got one missing tomorrow, which is Alex Hernandez who is missing through injury.

“Alex hasn’t played with the squad much this year though at all, so in terms of being missed I’m not sure, because we’re used to him not being with us this year.

“He’s had a bad year with injuries and we’re hoping that we’re coming to the end of that and we will see Alex back to his best next season.

“Everyone else is fit and available.”