MANAGER Peter Beadle says his Hereford United's youngsters must raise their game 'massively' for tonight’s (Thursday) FA Youth Cup clash at AFC Bournemouth.

Beadle believes the carrot of a potential tie at Manchester City in the next round should be a huge incentive for the young Bulls.

United are likely to be without goalkeeper Cameron Clarke who was taken to hospital with an ankle injury in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat against struggling Newport County at Leominster Town.

Clarke was stretchered off the pitch after a first-half collision with Newport’s Jack Davies in Hereford’s defeat in the Football League Youth Alliance Under-18 South-West section.

Beadle said: "We will have to raise our massively for the Bournemouth game.

“It’s a massive game and you can’t play it down.

“It’s an opportunity for the boys to play on a big stage, at a nice ground and in a prestigious competition.

“We have done really well to get where we are and we have put in some fantastic performances.

“We know who could get in the next round – Manchester City or Doncaster Rovers - if we beat Bournemouth and that’s an even bigger draw.

“The players are getting the chance to play at a Championship ground and it’s a chance for them to shine on a big stage.

“They have to up the ante. The carrot is there for us,

“We have a lot of work to do but the players shouldn’t need a lot of motivation from me. With an opportunity they’ve got, the boys should be up for the tie."

United are leaving Edgar Street at 2pm today for the third-round tie, which kicks off at 7pm.

Hereford have already played Bournemouth once this season – a 2-2 draw in a league cup match.

Beadle said: “We need to perform properly and get our attitude right or there’s no way we will be going through. Bournemouth are one of the strongest groups and a Championship club.

“We scored very late against them last time to get a draw. In the first half we were very good and, in the second half, Bournemouth were probably a little better than us."

United were below-par in Saturday’s league defeat to Newport County – Beadle’s old club – on a blustery day at the Briarwood Stadium.

It was Newport’s first league win of the season and they deserved to take all three points after a hard-working display.

United struggled in the first half and the Welshmen took the lead after 19 minutes when Tyla Preece headed in Lewis Jones’ corner.

United drew level soon afterwards from the penalty spot. Jesse Victory was harshly penalised for hand-ball and United’s Billy Murphy calmly rolled his spot-kick past the diving Jake Keating and into the net.

Newport regained the advantage in the 31st minute after a neat turn and cross from Jones was knocked home at the back post by Davies.

Jarrod Bowen had a powerful drive pushed away by Keating, who also tipped Ben Smith’s drive on to the top of the bar.

Newport extended their advantage in the 56th minute after the impressive Ben Brooks broke away and crossed for Alex Zanotti to slide the ball home from close range.

United hit back again, Cory Williams heading in an excellent cross.

Williams later tested the reflexes of Keating, who also pushed over a long-range shot from Murphy.

But Beadle said: “Our performance was disappointing – we have always said we strive for performance rather than results,

“We spoke in the week about how we have been very consistent this season.

“But this was probably our worst performance – a few days before a big game is not what you want.

“But it might be a good timing before the Bournemouth game.

“Sometimes injuries can be unsettling but we were 2-1 down when our goalkeeper was injured. We didn’t play well leading up to it nor particularly well after it."