Colchester United U17s will take on Leyton Orient U17s in the Arsenal Cup on Tuesday 21st November (KO 7pm) at Park Drive in Maldon.
Supporters can purchase tickets at the gate with prices set at £5 for adults and £3 for concessions.
Elliott Ward, the U18s Lead Coach, spoke to us about the whole tournament ahead of the U’s clash against Orient.
He explained: “The Leyton Orient game is part of another U17s cup. That's why the schedule has been quite relentless for the boys that are in that group. A lot of that is Saturdays and Tuesdays which you know, they're going to have to get used to in terms of if they step up the ladder anyway. So it's about getting them and their bodies in the right way to prepare them right to compete.
“We’re top of our group, which means it's been a good start for us. It's a good competition for us to go and test ourselves against different teams from Cat 3 and Cat 1. And I think the boys are really taking to it well and hopefully, we can get another positive result and keep moving forward in the U17s competition.”
Elliott added: “So far, we’ve played Arsenal away and drew 3-3 and then we played Watford away as well and beat them 5-2. We started really strong in this competition and we look to continue that against Orient."
Speaking about the format of the competition Elliott said: “We play home and away, so this is the last game before Christmas and then it starts again in January. I think we host Arsenal in mid-January. It's a proper group stage and then it goes straight to the semi-finals and the final.
“Basically, everyone plays the same amount of games anyway and hopefully, we progress and we do get to the final. It's a lot of good games to fit in between our schedules and it's important to have that for the boys. As I said, playing Saturdays and Tuesdays puts them in a good place.”
