'It's been a good year - now let's end it on a high'
Barry Lewtas is hoping Liverpool U18s can end 2018 on a high when they host Portsmouth in the FA Youth Cup third round at St Helens on Tuesday night.
Lewtas' free-scoring side have enjoyed a strong start to the 2018-19 season and will look to book a fourth-round tie versus Accrington Stanley by beating Pompey.
Kick-off at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens is at 7pm GMT and you can watch the tie live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO.
- Get your tickets by visiting the ticket office at the Totally Wicked Stadium or online by clicking here.
- LFC season ticket holders and Members can attend the match for free by showing your card on the day.
Read on for Lewtas' thoughts on the Youth Cup, the campaign so far, prolific striking duo Paul Glatzel and Bobby Duncan and more...
On the challenged posed by playing in the Youth Cup…
I’ve spoken a few times about the importance of our U18s programme being as diverse as possible. The youth Champions League gives us European opposition, the Premier League Cup allows us to play teams from the north and south sections and then in the FA Youth Cup you can draw anybody, so it adds to the list of different teams we can play. It should be a good game and another good test against a decent Portsmouth side. It’s our final game of the year so we want to end it on a winning note and it would be great to enjoy a good run in the Youth Cup.
We have produced some very good performances at St Helens in the Youth League this season. It’s a nice big pitch, the playing surface is fantastic so it suits us. It probably is an advantage for us that so many of our boys have experienced playing there, the dressing room and the whole stadium itself. The boys certainly won’t be going there and be fazed by anything so we have to make sure we make the most of that.
On his team's form so far this term…
They have done ever so well and full credit to them in terms of the way they have applied themselves every day in training. The pre-season trip we had away to Hungary and Germany was of big benefit to myself taking on this role and it was the same for the boys. We hit the ground running. From the outside it looks like we have won a lot of games and it has been straightforward, but some of the games have certainly not been - they've been extremely tough! We have left quite a few of them to right at the end to get the winning goal, so for the boys to keep up that level for the amount of games we have played so far is a credit to them.
On Glatzel and Duncan, who have scored 17 goals each so far this season…
They have done really well and it’s great that they have been on the end of the good work of the other players in terms of how we have created the chances for them, especially from central and wide areas. When we have put the ball in the right areas for them they have scored the goals. It’s great for them, they are centre-forwards and they love scoring goals. For me the pleasing thing is they have scored so many goals and we have been able to create so many chances as a team, so it goes hand in hand for me.
On the eye-catching displays of 17-year-old Jake Cain in midfield…
Jake has played most of the games. He started the season ever so well and he’s played in most of the UEFA Youth League games as well. He has gone about his work quietly behind the scenes, he links the game together for us and has had some nice assists. He is certainly someone who buys into the style of football we are trying to produce then replicate on a matchday. He has done ever so well, he played for me in the U16s team last season and he really has had an excellent 18 months and I’m really pleased for him.