Saints' Under-18's have been drawn away to Aldershot Town in the 1st Round of the FA Youth Cup.

The tie in the prestigious competition will be played at the Shots' EBB Stadium on Wednesday 4th November, kick-off 7.30pm.

Youth Team Coach Dave Puckett enjoyed a playing spell at the League Two outfit in the early 1990's, and is anticipating a good encounter.

"It's a good Hampshire derby," he said of the draw. "They will certainly be ready for it because we played them in pre-season, and we know that they will be ready to play us. At the same time we'll look forward to going to their ground and playing on a lovely pitch with good facilities.

"The competition has got a great tradition throughout, and there are a number of players that have played in the tournament and gone on to become top players in the game.

"It's also the next progression of the young lads' careers, and when you are a youth team player that's naturally the fixture and the cup that you want to be playing in and it's another big game for us."

The match will also give an opportunity for the young players to experience playing at a first team ground in an evening fixture.

"It will be a night game under floodlights with a decent crowd I'm sure, because there will be a lot of local interest to see who the next group of players are," Puckett highlighted.

"People will view it as the next youth team and it might be the first time that a lot of fans see the lads, so it's a great opportunity for the players to show that they are ready to kick on to the next level and progress, because they're taking part in such a terrific competition.

"The whole squad will be available for selection and it will be the same case as it would for any game, whoever is available for consideration in the week building up to it has got a chance of being included in the competition.

"We've got a league game against Crystal Palace on the Saturday and then another one against Ipswich on the following weekend, so it will be a massive week and this is just one game in the middle of it for us.

"Some boys might have reserve team recognition as well which we will have to consider, so it will be treated as any other game, but it certainly is a big match in their early careers and they will want to do well. We will prepare the boys in the best possible way to give them the best chance of progression.

"There will be competition for places for the Crystal Palace match and it's going to require hard work on the training ground to earn the right to play in that game and then to stay there for this fixture. Performances, availability and hopefully injuries wise we will be ok to select a team from, but we will take it each game as it comes."

2009-10 F.A Youth Cup