He emphasised the fact, in his pre-match interview, that the Iron's youngsters have earned the right to be at this stage of the competition after beating both Long Eaton United and Cambridge United on their travels in the preceding two rounds.

ON PLAYING THE GAME AND NOT THE OCCASION...

AD: It's a great experience, but like we always say you can only enjoy it when you come out with something where you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of it and say you've given everything. If they can do that, they will have enjoyed the occasion, playing against a fantastic team and producing fantastic memories.

We're going there to perform. Every time we've previewed a cup match, I've spoke about working hard every day and improving. A match day is a time to go out and show what you've got and the occasion and the experience will only be memorable if they go out and do that. I believe that they're all confident and they've had enough work to show how good they are as players.

ON EARNING THE RIGHT TO BE IN THE THIRD ROUND...

AD: They've worked hard. We've beaten Long Eaton away and then Cambridge away, which were two toughs games. Certainly in the second half against Cambridge, we probably put on one of the best performances of our season. Some of the football we played was exceptional and it was a joy to watch. They know that and they've set the standards. They've now got an opportunity to go into an even bigger stage and do it again - and that's the challenge we've set them.

ON THE QUALITY OF THE OPPOSITION...

AD: Their record in this cup speaks for itself. They've won it on numerous occasions over the last few years and they've got the best players in the world at this level. For me, that's a great opportunity for our lads to say "never mind them, look at us". They've worked hard to get to this stage and it's up to them to not fear it, meet it head on.

There's no hiding the fact they've got the best young players in the world. I'd say in England, but they're not, they're the best in the world. That's proven by a number of them winning the U17 World Cup.

As a young footballer you want to challenge yourself against the best.

ON THE MOOD IN THE CAMP GOING INTO THE GAME...

AD: They're obviously excited. You'd expect that, they're young men. The majority of them haven't grown up playing against Category One teams and it's very rare these players get the opportunity to play against a team like this.

We've drilled it into them this year that they can be excited and they can enjoy it, but we don't go into games to make the numbers up, we go into the games to perform.

We saw what happened last night with Manchester City (losing to Plymouth in the FA Youth Cup). It's a game of football and that's the attitude they have to have going into the game.

Report - James Moody

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Professional Development Phase Coach Andy Dawson reacting to his side’s FA Youth Cup exit to holders Chelsea.

The side were a solitary goal down with 12 minutes to go, but ended up on the end of a 4-0 reverse as the hosts entered another gear as the Category One fitness and quality showed.

DAWSON’S REACTION TO THE GAME…

AD: I’m not too worried about the scoreline in the end if I’m totally honest. I would have been disappointed had it been 1-0, 4-0 or 2-1. I’m just disappointed we didn’t give a real true reflection of the way that we can play. At the end of the day, we were playing a top team in Chelsea who are quality in and out of possession and you have to be brave and you have to get onto the ball.

No matter who you play, you have to get onto the ball to have half a chance of hurting them and scoring a goal. I don’t think we worked hard enough as individuals to want to find space and receive the ball. That’s one thing we have done this season at our level. We have dominated teams, we have created chances and, although we need to be more clinical when we get them, we have dominated possession.

I would have said the same thing to the players whatever the score had ended up. They didn’t show what good players they are.

ON KELSEY, LILLEY, MORFOOT AND CONGRATULATING CHELSEA…

AD: I thought Adam (Kelsey) and the two centre-halves (Sam Lilley and Cameron Morfoot) stuck to their task very gamely, which we needed them to do. They’re a very attacking team, but it’s part of football to stay strong when you go one or two goals behind. It’s about learning the trade and you have to feel disappointments to learn. It’s difficult to learn if you’re always winning games.

At 2-0, we tried to change it with ten minutes to go, and we conceded straight away, which was disappointing. It was fully deserved, they’re a top team, they move the ball really well and have some top players. Full credit and congratulations go to them.

ON LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE…

AD: It’s about our lads learning from the experience. They now know the levels that they need to get to, because they’ve just played against it. They’ve just played against one of the best under-18s teams in England and that’s the standard we need to be at. They know that and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. If that’s the one thing that they learn, that they’re not quite there yet, then so be it - that’s brilliant for me.

I said again though, they worked so hard to get to this stage. They were fantastic against Cambridge, they were fantastic against Long Eaton and we came up against one of the best teams in England and didn’t quite show what we’ve got and that’s the only

ON CHELSEA…

AD: No doubt from what I’ve seen tonight, they will go on and win the competition.

Report - James Moody

Match details

Match date

Fri 15 Dec 2017

Kickoff

19:05

Team overview