Peterborough United Under 18s will welcome Colchester United Under 18s to PE2 today, kick-off 11am.
Peterborough United Under 18s face Colchester United Under 18s on home soil on Saturday, with Jimmy Unwin’s side determined to get off to a good start to their league campaign before they embark on the lengthy trip to Wales to face Swansea City Under 18s next Friday.
Unwin confirmed that he has a near-fully fit squad available to him, besides the two long-term absentees, Fabian Claxton and Milan Kovaci, who look set to miss a portion of the season as they nurse their respective injury complications.
Last time out, Jimmy Unwin’s side secured a comfortable victory in PE28: “It was nice to see the boys practise different aspects of their game, where we’ve owned the ball for longer periods which didn’t happen in certain games over pre-season.
“There’s been games where we have suffered without the ball, so it’s good for us to experience that so when it comes to the first league game, we’ll be prepared for any type of game that Colchester bring to us.”
THE OPPOSITION
Colchester United Under 18s, led by former Premier League defender Elliott Ward, finished the 2023/24 season bottom of their respective division - achieving five victories, whilst drawing a further seven and falling to defeat on 17 occasions.
The U’s finished the season on a high note, though, Ward’s side secured back-to-back victories versus AFC Bournemouth and Swansea City, before the points were shared in East Yorkshire in a final league clash with Hull City.
FROM THE MANAGER
“We’ve had a good pre-season, lots of games, lots of work, but now it’s to get the league format going and see how the team will fare in the league.
“Colchester are like us; they like to stretch and challenge their players. We have, like they do, a lot of young players that play with the Under 21s and also with the First Team, so you can’t gage anything of what Colchester will be like – fingers crossed we can get a win and start positively, or to just get a really good performance is all we ask for.
“We said to the boys today that if we can put in a good performance, and we put in 100% and lose then we can handle that – there’s ways to lose games but we want to start in a possible fashion and get the three points.”
The fixture will take place at the idverde Training Ground, Nene Park.