Shrewsbury Town youngsters chase cup cheer

A largely underwhelming season has seen Town's youngsters save their best performances for the cup, with an emphatic win over Wolverhampton Casuals and a dramatic 2-1 victory over Rochdale seeing them progress in the competition.

Academy boss Andy Jones believes his players must emulate the latter performance, when a late Charley Higgs goal sealed victory, if they want to get past a tough Accrington side.

"We played up at Rochdale and it was probably one of our best performances of the season, especially in the first half," Jones told the club's official website.

"We were set up very well, with a high press and created a lot of good opportunities in the first half against a good Rochdale side.

"We've just got to try and emulate that performance, I know they come with a little bit of pedigree, I think they've got a few lads that are in and around their first team set-up.

"We've got a good set of lads, we've got a good side, good coaching staff and we're confident so we'll see how we get on."

The cup has provided a welcome distraction to the under-18s' struggles in the league, where they have won only twice.

Their poor form has been a puzzle to many, including Town boss Paul Hurst, who has wasted little time before getting involved in the club's youth set-up.

Hurst travelled to Rochdale in the previous round and will again take a watching brief in the stands at Greenhous Meadow tonight (kick-off 7pm).

"I've been impressed with the standard of players and training and I'm a little surprised having looked at results that they haven't done better," he said.

"It doesn't matter, in the sense it's about the players trying to progress as individuals and getting some to come through. I'm a big believer there are kids that will go out and play and they'll get hammered and they're not bothered and will go home and play and be happy.

"There are others that start to sulk, I was one of those, I didn't like losing from a very early age.

"I once changed team and played against my old team and we lost and I was inconsolable that day.

"I still think there's an element of wanting to get them into good habits. At 16, 17 and 18 years old, you don't want to let losing be something that is taken lightly.

"We can't hide the fact we're happy with not winning games. But at the same time it's very much about development and having seen them a couple of times training and in the last youth cup game, I was impressed with what I saw."