Gosport Borough under-18s get set to embark on another historic step for the club with FA Youth Cup trip to Reading City

The club's promising youngsters ensured Boro reached the first round proper for the first time last month and they are now preparing to face off against Reading City on Wednesday night.

Joint manager Suraci, who oversees the under-18 set-up alongside fellow first-teamer Joe Lea, says all involved can take pride no matter what the result at Reading after taking Gosport further than ever before in the competition.

But having avoided the several Football League academies who enter the Youth Cup at the first round stage, Suraci insists there is confidence within the group that they could progress even further.

He said: ‘It’s like we said in the last round, the boys have done so well to get where they have.

‘It’s the furthest that an under-18s team at Gosport has ever got so they’ve done really well to get this far - it’s almost a free hit on Wednesday.

‘Although we’re not playing one of the big Football League teams, Reading (City) will be really good, we’ve heard good things about them, so it’ll be a tough test for our boys. Whatever happens, we’re just going to enjoy the occasion of going up there on the coach - I’m sure the boys will give everything they’ve got and we’ll see what happens at the end.

‘It’s definitely going to be a tough challenge for us but me and Joe both believe in this group and how good they can be.

‘We went and played Hamworthy (on Sunday) and beat them 5-0 - it was one of the best performances I’ve seen from the under-18s we’ve had.

‘There’s a really good group there, with good togetherness, and quality of player so there’s always the chance, whoever we play, we can get a result.’

Boro will be without their Youth Cup leading scorer Christian Bennett as he is currently isolating after contracting Covid.

Suraci conceded the winger, who has netted seven times in the competition and got the winner to see Boro past Cheltenham Saracens in the last round, will be a huge loss.

But Bennett's misfortune opens up the door for someone else to come in and make more history for Gosport's young guns.

Suraci said: ‘We’ve had to change a few things because two of our players are out, they’re both isolating.

‘Christian is our top scorer in the Youth Cup and has been top scorer in the past two or three years so he’s going to be a big loss for us.’

Gosport warmed up for the trip to Reading by beating Hamworthy 5-0 away in the Hampshire Development League at the weekend.

Boro and Reading have both won through four rounds so far. Gosport received a qualifying round walkover after Romsey Town withdrew, before beating Hamble Club 10-0, Poole Town 2-0 and Cheltenham Saracens 1-0.

If Gosport do progress, they could well draw a League 1 or League 2 club in the second round. The Premier League and Championship clubs do not enter until the third round.

Aston Villa are the current Youth Cup holders, having beaten Liverpool 2-1 in last season’s final. Chelsea have won the tournament seven times since 2010, but Manchester United – with 10 wins to Chelsea’s nine – have lifted the trophy the most times.

Current Pompey player Ryan Tunnicliffe was part of the last Manchester United side to win the Youth Cup in 2010/11. Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Michael Keane were among his team-mates.