Scott Gardner wants his Under 18s side to go out and put their hard work on the training ground into practice this weekend, when they face Manchester United.

The lunchtime kick-off on Saturday is a chance for both teams to bounce back from defeats last weekend, in what is always a highly anticipated fixture at any level.

“It has been another good week,” Gardner explained, ahead of the match.

“We have approached it in the same way during the week as we would any other game, so we are looking forward to it.

“We identified and worked on a few bits in preparation for the game this weekend. There is always a little bit more on this type of fixture for the lads, with it being Manchester United.

“But, our message to them is to carry on as normal, business as usual, go out there and do what we’ve worked on.”

The Whites were unlucky to be on the wrong end of a one-nil scoreline away at Nottingham Forest last week, but having looked back over the match, Gardner was pleased with his side.

He said: “Following on from the Nottingham Forest game and having watched it back, there were some real positives to take from it.

“The team were a bit down on Monday having dropped the three points, but having reviewed it, the players are fully aware of the positives that came from it.

“We weren’t too far off what we wanted to do, so in the end we were quite pleased with the performance overall, if not the result, so we want to see more of the positives this weekend.”