Reality check for FA Youth Cup heroes
Mar 20 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Mail
ALEX McLeish has warned Blues’ FA Youth Cup heroes that the hard work starts now.
McLeish, along with his first-team coaches Andy Watson and Roy Aitken, were sat up in the stands at St Andrew’s on Monday to watch Blues Academy side overcome Watford.
The 1-0 quarter-final victory has set up a plum two-legged tie with Liverpool in the next round and it naturally had the teenagers that played dreaming of bigger things.
The likes of Mitchell McPike and Ashley Sammons are seriously targeting senior appearances.
However, McLeish has given the club’s youngsters a dosage of reality by insisting that even if they go on to lift the FA Youth Cup, then making the next step will be much harder: “I thought they all stepped up and I couldn’t see a bad performance anywhere,” said McLeish reflecting on Monday night’s match.
