HEREFORD United’s young stars go into next Thursday’s FA Youth Cup third round clash at Bournemouth, knowing that a win could secure them a tie with Premiership opposition.

While the senior side has a storied relationship with the third round, success for the U18s would cap an already successful year for Peter Beadle’s squad, which has seen three players get the nod from first team boss Martin Foyle.

And Beadle’s team will travel to Bournemouth full of confidence having drawn 2-2 with the Championship side in a league fixture, despite having to take a 6am bus trip to the south coast.

Beadle said: “We’ll go into the game thinking they’re there for the beating.

“No doubt they’ll feel the same - but the carrot at the end of for the boys is huge.

“It’s a massive achievement for us to be at this point, in this prestigious competition.”

The young Bulls have already played five rounds to make here – this is Bournemouth’s first outing in the competition – yet Beadle said both attitude and attention in training are peaking.

In part, that is down their integration with first team.

Alongside the presence in matchday squads of Billy Murphy, Owen Evans and Cory Williams – who made his senior debut off the bench on the weekend – the youth players get regular opportunities to work with the full-time pros on the training field.

“It’s part of their education,” said Beadle. “It’s just great that they’ve been exposed to it.

“They know that the minimum expectation of playing at that level is energy, desire and will power.

“It lets us work on technique, and developing them into mature footballers.

“I was gutted I missed Cory on Saturday, but he’s hungry and I know he wished to get more time.

“Ultimately we want all these boys to become Hereford players, but they’re at different stages of their development .”

Beadle added that the Bournemouth tie comes at a good time for the squad.

Following several weeks without a fixture, injured players are returning to fitness, and a league game against Newport County at Leominster Town's Briarwood Stadium this Saturday offers the chance for players to sharpen up for the cup clash five days later.