One of Crewe's Academy Manager's James Collins has expressed his delight in seeing his young boys progress through to the second round of the FA Youth Cup with a victory over Ashton Town on Tuesday night.

The boys will now face either Cambridge United or Hemel Hempstead in the next round depending on who wins their fixture tonight. Cambridge United knocked us out of the Youth Cup in a similar fixture last season.

Following last night's win James told Crewe Alex World that it was fully deserved and the boys did well with their football: "I thought we did really well. It's not as easy as it looks to come to places like these, a pitch we're not used to and a non-league ground that the players aren't used to. We started brightly and fully deserved the win and could actually have gone to score more than we did."

"We came here thinking that we wouldn't be able to play as much football as we do because obviously we didn't know what the pitch would be like and the weather has been windy and raining, we thought we might have to go a bit more direct but in the end they revert to type. The boys who have come through, even if we told them not to play their football they would still play their football and the way they are taught, so in the end we thoroughly deserved the win."

The under 18's are on a terrific run of form so far this season having found themselves losing just three games out of 14 and with the talent that is in the squad James believes that they have what it takes to be contenders for winning the competition this year.

He says: "We said to the boys before the game that we think they have the chance to do something special this year with the group of lads we have got, we have got some fantastic players here and there is a real good team spirit.

"Whether we can go on and win it is a different question but we have got decent results against the Manchester United's and the Liverpool's and teams like that this season, I don't see any reason why if we did draw a bigger club we shouldn't go on and beat them."

You can hear the full Academy Review now and every week on Crewe Alex World. We will also bring you highlights of selected games played by the future of the club as well as regular instalments where you get to know the boys a little better and learn some essential skills with them.