TOWN legend Alan McLoughlin is looking for his Swindon Town U18s to manage the occasion as they prepare to step out under lights at the Energy Check County Ground for their FA Youth Cup clash with Northampton Town tonight (7pm).

The 50-year-old oversaw a frantic first-round tie with Newport County at the County Ground 10 days ago, which saw the hosts reduced to 10 men before seeing out a 6-2 victory.

The former Swindon midfielder has demanded his troops produce a similar performance to their last cup outing, with the winner hosting Nottingham Forest in the third round.

“We are looking for a victory and we are looking for them to cope with the occasion because it is a totally different marker for them,” he said.

“It will be under lights, it will be a long day and we want them to stick to the gameplan.

“I think I’ve got enough players who can handle the occasion and can execute our plan.

“If they can do that and produce a performance like they did against Newport then we would be more than happy with that.

“We are just looking forward to the game now. The players are chomping at the bit but we know it will be difficult because Northampton will be just as prepared as we are going into it.”

Swindon will be without Jacob Bancroft, who was sent off in their first-round clash will be ineligible as he is serving a three-match ban.

Despite the fact the youngster is set to miss out, McLoughlin believes there is more than enough depth to cope with his absence.

“Jake will be missing and we will miss that pace down the left-hand side, but we have an able replacement coming in,” he added.

“There is nothing we can do about it. He will miss the game, the next game against Bristol Rovers and then he will be back in contention.”

Over the weekend Town’s youngsters had a successful league outing away to Cheltenham Town youngsters in the Youth Alliance League South West, where they claimed a 5-4 win in Gloucestershire.

Ralph Graham, Luke Haines and Elliot Dugan all notched, while Sol Pryce continued his good form with a double, much to the delight of McLoughlin.

“We have a strong mentality of winning games. We played on Saturday but defensively, we were a little bit sloppy,” he said.

“We came through the game and beat Cheltenham.

“Overall we are in a good vein of form and have a strong mental approach which we have been striving for.”

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