The United Youth team get back to League action for the first time since the end of November tomorrow as they play host to Chester City at the Sheepmount (11am kick off).

We caught up with Youth Boss Eric Kinder this afternoon to get his thoughts on the second half of the season:

"As it stands, the game is on, which is good news for us.

The lads have come back in much better shape than I expected, to be honest. They've had two weeks off, and when you consider that it's the festive fortnight, then you might expect that they could let their hair down a little bit. Add to that the fact that we only had the one competitive game in the run up to the break, against Sheffield Wednesday, and you can see why I might have expected them to be sluggish. I'm delighted to say that every one of them has looked bright and breezy. Mind you, so they should be with what lies ahead of them over the course of this next few months.

We had a deal before the break, me and the lads, that I would help them to go for the title as much as I could, but that was only if they won their last home game. Well, that match was postponed, so it caused us a little bit of a difficulty. It goes without saying that I have to recruit for next season whatever situation we are in. Mind you, I'm only looking for 5 or 6 players this time round, so my job is easier in that respect. It is correct that I made that promise to them and, as far as I am concerned, that situation is still the same. We need to win tomorrow if we want to really go for it, so we'll see how they perform.

One thing I was saying to them before Christmas was that I didn't want to hear any Manchester United talk at all, at least not until we are due to play them. I've changed my mind on that now. I've decided that the build up to that game starts now. It's a massive game for the club ... in fact, it's a massive game for me, so it's only right that we start to prepare ourselves mentally, physically, tactically and as a team. We've already started work on the shape that we will use against United, and what we're going to do when we go down there.

We won't be doing it tomorrow, I've decided to stick with our 4-4-2 for the Chester game, and we'll play that game in our normal way. However, like I say, we will approach the United game in a different way because I am not taking the lads down there to get beat. Just the opposite, in fact. We know we can't go gung-ho and all out against them, so we're working on a few things now, and over the coming days, so that we have a plan in mind when we take them on.

That means that the training for the last few sessions has been geared around the Manchester United game, but we're back to reality tomorrow. Like I say, the lads know that they have to win it if they want to keep going for the title, so I've put it firmly in their hands.

I don't think Chester will want to be here at all. As you rightly say, they have Spurs away at White Hart Lane on Tuesday, and if I was their manager I'd be praying for it to be called off. I'll be in the same position when we play Accrington. I'll be watching every tackle and hoping that it doesn't lead to an injury, because we follow that one with our game against United. It's only natural, because the big games, the really big games, for both clubs at the moment are the Cup ties. We've got to see whether Chester have their minds on Tuesday and, if they have, then we have to take advantage.

I've also told the lads that I want to continue the run that we are on, because I'd rather go in to our Cup game on the back of two good victories than on the back of two League defeats. So, we'll see what we get. Kids being kids we have to accept that they have had a break, they've played two games in seven weeks, and that all comes together to mean that we don't really know what we'll get from them. That might be a positive because, as I hope, it'll show us that they have been chomping at the bit and they will get right back amongst it.

To go back to your earlier question, I've told them this morning that I am right with them as far as the League is concerned. I'm prepared to go flat out for it, but they know that I don't think that we can afford to lose tomorrow and maintain that point of view.

I'm always looking at new recruits. I've got three or four lads that I have spoken to over the course of the last few weeks, and we'll see how that develops. Hopefully we'll sort those out fairly quickly and we can keep the momentum going."