Wood and McCormick prepared for QPR test

Swindon Town under-18s manager Sean Wood and captain Ant McCormick are aware of the ‘difficult’ challenge that awaits them tonight but are prepared for the task ahead.

A place in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup is up for grabs as the Young Robins travel to Loftus Road to face Queens Park Rangers, as Town look to put themselves in the hat for tomorrow's draw.

Wood said that he and his side know what they’re up against but have suitable plans in place to try and get a result.

He said: “They’re going to be a very difficult team to play against.

“We have an idea of trend and style and some personnel in terms of what we’re going to be up against.

“I think this one’s another step, another challenge and it definitely brings more of a tougher game in terms of the opposition we’re going to come up against, but we know we have to focus on what we do well, how we’re going to approach it without the ball and then what we can do with the attacking frontline.”

First-team manager Ian Holloway said that he would have liked to have taken a look at some of the younger players in Tuesday’s trip to Wycombe Wanderers, but the game on Thursday impacted that.

The under-18s manager praised the experienced boss and Marcus Bignot for how they’ve handled the situation.

He admitted: “It would have been very easy for the boys to be exposed to the game on Tuesday night and as an academy, we do want the players to be involved, but because it’s an FA Youth Cup game, it’s slightly different.

“Thankfully, the gaffer and Marcus [Bignot] have really been supportive of us this week.

“It brings problems sometimes [first-team callups], because obviously when they go across there, they want to be there all the time.”

Captain McCormick reflected on the journey so far with victories over Newport County and Gillingham.

He said: “Newport was obviously the first game and we managed to get an early goal through myself and we did play some good football, especially on a lovely pitch like Swindon.

“Gillingham was a very interesting game, we were 1-0 up and then a disappointing goal to concede before half time.

“The sending’s off made it a much different game, we hadn’t played against 10 players before and then it goes down to nine.”

Loftus Road is the stadium for tonight, but the captain isn’t fazed with playing at a new arena and isn’t too sure what to expect from the hosts – but could use a current player as an insight.

He said: “The playing surface is a factor but for me, I try and treat every game as it comes, every game is the same.

“No [we don’t know what to expect], but Botan [Ameen] got let go from QPR when he was younger, so it’s a massive game for him and all the boys love him, so it’s all around him.”