Academy leaders

Two of the country's leading academy teams will battle for a place in the FA Youth Cup Final this Thursday, as Sunderland take on Manchester City in the Semi-Final first leg at the Stadium of Light.

City's youngsters, under the guidance of Jim Cassell, have had a great season. They lead their section of the Premier Academy League and have notched 16 goals in their run through to the Youth Cup Semis.

Cassell puts his team's performances down to collective effort. He said: "We win together and we lose together.

"There have been some excellent performances. Everybody's getting their act together and the whole adventure for everyone has been fantastic.

"I expect it to be a close, tough game on Thursday. We know Sunderland well. We've lost to them and they've lost to us. It'll be down to that bit of luck over the two legs.

"But I'm not one of those people who says 'winning it doesn't matter.' I'm desperate to win it."

Ged McNamee's Sunderland are also going well in their section of the Academy League, and their run through to the last four has included an impressive 5-3 extra-time defeat of holders Liverpool.

McNamee's side beat City in last year's Premier Cup semi-final, but lost 4-0 to them earlier this season. "We've always had good games against them," he said.

"City always produce good players. They're one of the best academies."

But McNamee knows his young team have also been in impressive form this season after a difficult start.

"We had some sticky results before Christmas but since we got going we've been playing very well and the lads have stepped up to the mark and answered a few questions.

"We're over the moon about how they've done, but now we want to go on and reach the Final. If we've got to this stage, we've got to think we can go further."