Evening News: Boyhood Red ready for cup tie

The fourth round FA Youth Cup tie between Histon and Liverpool tomorrow will be an occasion to savour for all the young Stutes as they pit themselves against some of the best young players in the country.

But for left-back Ashley White it will be all the more memorable as he lines up against the club he and his family fervently support.

"I'm a big Liverpool fan. I sit there at home with my dad watching LFCTV, watching all the under-18s matches and now I get a chance to play them, so it's brilliant," he said.

"It's exciting to be on LFCTV and it will help us analyse our game.

"There are a good five or six proper Liverpool fans in our squad really buzzing for the occasion."

White, aged 18, has history with Liverpool, having been a member of the Cambridge & District Schools team that lost 8-0 to their Liverpool counterparts in the ESFA Inter-Association under-15 Trophy final at Anfield three years ago.

"The build-up for that game was amazing," he said.

"I came on just after half time and we were 4-0 down already, so the pressure was almost gone. But you take away the experience and find out things about yourself that maybe you didn't know because you hadn't been in that situation before."

Having previously been a part of the youth system at Cambridge City, and then Cambridge United, White joined Histon aged 14. He describes himself as an old-fashioned defender but he has had to add more skills to his repertoire as part of his development.

"I like a tackle and all that, but that's not going to help me make it in the game. People are always looking for someone to overlap, get a cross in and get a couple of goals now, so I'm trying to build that into my game."

Wednesday will be the biggest game of White's career so far, and there is no doubt that he and his Histon team-mates will be doing everything they can to give themselves the best chance of success against Liverpool's young stars.

"Playing against Bradford and Crawley in the previous two rounds, we came up against players who were a lot quicker and stronger, physically and mentally," he said. "With Liverpool I expect them to be even quicker and stronger. For games like this you have to make sure you're on your game, get the right amount of sleep, eat well and do everything you can to prepare for the game."

Source: Cambridge Evening News