TERRY Pashley has urged his young Clarets to rise to the occasion tonight, as they play for a place in the FA Youth Cup final for the first time in 44 years.
After playing in front of 10,000-plus crowd for the first time in their lives last week, another bumper crowd is anticipated for their semi-final second leg with Blackburn Rovers at Turf Moor (kick-off 7pm).
The tie will be settled tonight, and with Burnley trailing only 1-0, Pashley insists it is all to play for.
And, after playing on 'enemy territory' last Thursday, the Clarets' youth team coach hopes his lads will be lifted by having the majority of the fans right behind them.
“The boys had never experienced anything like last week before,” he admitted.
“I'm sure they were surprised by the volume. I saw that in a few eyes when I looked at them, and a few white faces.
“Hopefully 80 per cent of the crowd (tonight) will be on their side cheering for them.”
And Pashley believes home advantage is a plus.
“I think it is,” he said.
“Every time you arrive at Turf Moor there's been a queue (for tickets) for the last couple of days.
“The lads have seen it as well.
“The interest it's generated has been very good.
“Wherever you go you know the second leg is going to be tough, but we're still in there at 1-0.
“Our aim was to still be in the tie when we came back, and we are.”
But Pashley has warned his youth players to stick to their gameplan and not get carried away.
“There's going to be a lot of emotion, but we've got to make sure we're still playing with our heads and not just our hearts,” said the 55-year-old.
“We've told players to take that little bit more care with their crossing or final ball, because that might be the difference.
“Initially we want to start on the front foot, start a little bit better than we did (last week). We want to start how we finished. That's our aim.
“If we do score the first goal it could all be to play for in that last 30 minutes, and that's when the tie comes alive.
“I think the place will be rocking if that happens.”
Pashley, who himself came through Burnley's youth ranks, added: “We've not reached this stage for a number of years, the boys have done exceptionally well to get here, but we're going to make sure it doesn't end here.”
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