Ahead of the youth team taking to the pitch at the Sheepmount, we spoke to Academy Manager, Steven Rudd.
Speaking to CUTV, he began by saying: “I think it's absolutely massive, I've been involved here part-time for a long time now as an Academy coach and this here is something the club's been dying out for, for years and years to have our own training facility that's in progress and look it's not finished but the grass pitches are absolutely immaculate.
“Credit to Dave [Mitchell] and Paul [Butler]. There won't be a better youth team pitch in the league this season than these ones and we say the same about Creighton to be fair; we always have good facilities but in terms of being the first team to play here, we just want it to be a fantastic occasion for everybody from the players that are playing, the staff that are involved - they've got to come down and enjoy it and you know it's probably a moment in history.
“We probably won't think much of it at the time but when we look back in five, 10 or 15 years time to be the first team to have played here with a bit of a crowd and parents and things it's a great honour.
“We just want it to be a great day for everybody that comes down and watches, we want to give them a really good first experience of the Sheepmount and hopefully after tomorrow it goes and builds from there and gets even bigger and better.”
On the excitement amongst the players, Steven explained: “They're buzzing. They were talking this morning, I think some of them had been down last night on their own, the ones that are living in the digs in Carlisle, I think they've popped down to have a look at the pitches and see where they were going.
“I think they're all buzzing to get going, and again you know, it's not just the under-19’s that will get the benefit of this place. We're hoping to get an under-16’s game on here in the next week or two and other academy teams to get down here.
“People above us have worked so hard to get this over the line you know from the owners, Nigel [Clibbens] and Marc [Tierney] to get to where we are today with a game in 24 hours time, it's a great achievement, it's great for the city and the community as well to have a facility like this that we've been dying out for, for years.
“We want supporters to come down and see the players. We're hoping that some of these players will succeed and we want them to be the next Gabe Breeze, Jack Ellis, Taylor Charters people like that over the next few years so if they can come down put names to faces have a look and encourage the boys and see what we're trying to do then that can breed positivity.
“Come down have a look at the great facility, there'll be strict rules around walking on pitches and dogs and things like that because we want to maintain these pitches in the best condition we can for the next few years not just the next few weeks.”
