Middlesex v Cambridgeshire
The FA County Youth Cup
Semi-Final
Saturday 23 February 2008
Click here for fixtures

The first of this season's FA County Youth Cup Semi-Finals, featuring Middlesex and Cambridgeshire, will be played at The Warren on Saturday.

Middlesex have an excellent pedigree in the competition, having won it four times and appeared in nine finals.

The revival of Youth Football was one of the most important areas of The FA's work at the end of the war. During the 1944-45 season, the experiment of starting a National Competition for U18 players, providing representative football for the best young players who had not signed for professional clubs, was welcomed with enthusiasm.

Thirty-six of the 41 County Associations entered teams into what was then called 'The County Minor ('Youths') Championship'. Initially there was no trophy, with the players of the winning team just receiving FA blazer badges. The FA County Youth Cup is now in its 64th season and yes, there is a trophy now!

Middlesex once reached three successive finals - and had the thrill of playing at the old Wembley Stadium.

Liverpool beat them 4-3 on aggregate in 1949, with the two legs being played at Goodison Park and White Hart Lane. Highbury and Wembley were the venues a year later as Middlesex went down 4-3 to Essex.

It was 'third time lucky' in 1951, a 3-1 aggregate victory over Leicestershire being achieved at Filbert Street, Leicester, and Wealdstone's Lower Mead ground. En route to the final they had won four ties with a goal tally of 18-1.

Even with their great history in the competition, Middlesex haven't lifted the trophy for 36 years. They beat Liverpool 2-0 in a one-off match at Wealdstone on the same May afternoon in 1972 that Sir Alf Ramsey's England were knocked out of the European Nations Cup by West Germany.

Saturday's Semi-Final kicks off at 2.00 pm. 'The Warren' is Yeading FC's old ground and can be walked to from Southall station (if you're fit).

Admission is £3 (£1 concessions).