Portland United are set to give some of their young talent a chance in the first team, as the Blues travel to face Hamworthy United in the first round of the Dorset Senior Cup.
First team manager Kyle Critchell previewed tonight’s fixture, revealing that there will be wholesale changes to the matchday squad that beat Hartpury 2-0 in the Southern League Division One South on Saturday.
“There will be probably eight of the starting eleven today that won’t be a part of that group. They need to rest, recover. I will illude to it again, it’s really important that we give our youngsters a chance. We’ve got some U18’s that will be a part of the group and they deserve to be.”
Providing young, local talent with a platform to perform in the men’s game has been the cornerstone of the club’s identity.
Archie Woolford is one of the latest success stories to emerge from Portland’s reserve team, Woolford recently scoring the opener against fellow Dorset side Dorchester Town, having been a regular member of the reserves just two years ago.
Hayden Scott and Jamie Cleaver both have a storied history with the Blues, having starred in their U18’s before making the consecutive jumps through the reserves and into the first team.
Critchell admitted that the reserves have had a tumultuous season so far, currently sat 14th in their league, however, the first team manager is hopeful of having more homegrown talent at his disposal.
“I know our reserves are having an up and down season, but you’ve got to understand from their point of view last year they pressed the reset button.”
With Portland not having the financial powers of fellow local clubs Weymouth and Dorchester, looking to local talent has been the chosen approach.
“And that’s what we do here, we have to promote from within, we haven’t got the money to splash out on someone. So they’re the next group, if they stick together hopefully they can emulate Cleavs (Jamie Cleaver) and Hayden Scott.”
Portland notched two scalps last year, knocking out Poole Town, who were two divisions above the Blues at the time, and Shaftesbury, who sat one tier above them but are now in the same league. After being narrowly knocked out in the semi-finals to Dorchester on penalties, they could go even better this year.
Big hitters Weymouth and Poole face off with each other tonight, alongside Wimborne travelling to Shaftesbury. Therefore, with at least two of the county’s best teams exiting the competition in the first round, a favourable run to the final could be more than possible for Critchell’s side.
“I’ve got plans for Christmas, I don’t even have the money yet!”