Olly Lancashire believes that the club's younger players will only gain invaluable experience by playing at the Riverside Stadium this evening. The club’s summer signing from Swindon Town was a young trainee himself at Premier League side Southampton and he says that it is a chance for the Alex youngsters to showcase their quality on a grander stage.

Lancashire, who made his debut for the club in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Oldham told the club’s official website: “The league remains our main focus but it is always nice to progress in the cup competitions and build some momentum.

“It should be a good game against Middlesbrough, in a fantastic stadium. They are a big club, who were in the Premier League not so long ago. They will have the ambition of going back there but in a one off cup game, we are going there to try and win the game.

“It will only be a good experience for our lads. We have a lot of young players here and they need to take that experience into the league games. They will only learn from it.

“We know it will be tough. They are a strong team. I saw them against Luton on the television and they will be looking to get their first win of the season. It will be a good test for us all but we are going there looking to get a result.

“That is the way the gaffer always approaches the games and we will be going there to give a good account of ourselves and hopefully we can perform like we can and can progress to the next round.”