ACADEMY director Ian Howell will be brimming with pride when he once again takes his New College youngsters to one of his former clubs in the FA Youth Cup on Monday night.

College make the trip to Whaddon Road to take on Cheltenham Town in the preliminary round of the country’s biggest youth competition (kick-off 7.45pm) and the will also be a homecoming for Howell, who spent 14 months as a player with the Robins in the mid-nineties.

Last season, College exited the Youth Cup in the first qualifying round as they were knocked out at Gloucester City – another of Howell’s former clubs – and the youth programme’s head honcho is hoping that his youngsters continue to familiarise themselves with national competitions in years to come.

“I still know a couple of the directors at Cheltenham and I had what was probably the best time of my career there, so to come back with an academy team in the FA Youth Cup will be a very special moment for myself and the programme,” said Howell.

“It’s probably one of the toughest ties we could have been given. Cheltenham have just come out of the league, where I’m sure they want to get back to as quickly as possible, and our lads are going to be up against players that are part of a full-time youth team, who are coached by Jamie Victory.

“But it’s a good opportunity for us and we want to be involved in the national competitions.

“About eight to 10 years ago, we moved away from being the youth section of Supermarine and became a senior club on our own.

“We had to move up from the Wiltshire League and establish ourselves in the Hellenic League and that meant we could enter the FA Vase, which we’re in for a third year, and eventually, we want to make it into the FA Cup.”

A mixture of College players from their sides operating in the Wiltshire League U18 Floodlight Division (North), South West Counties Youth League and Hellenic League Division One West will make up the squad for Monday night’s clash with Cheltenham.