Mansfield Town

The youngster, who joined us on loan from Nottingham Forest last month, played a key role in helping his parent club reach the FA Youth Cup Semi-Finals last term.

“I think it’ll be a good game on Saturday,” said the teenage midfielder. “It’ll be a different experience going down to St Albans and the lads are looking forward to it.

“[The FA Cup] is a great competition because any club can play any team in any league, if they get through to certain stages. Saturday is an example of that and I think St Albans will be fired up.

“I think every team will try and make it difficult for us, but we’ve got a good bunch of players, good morale in the squad and we’ll push each other through to get a good result.

“If we can put in a good performance, it could give us that confidence to progress for when we play again in the league.”

Reflecting on his time at One Call Stadium so far, in which he has made three league appearances, Blake added: “Any first team experience that you can get is fantastic – especially at my age, having just turned 19.

“Every game poses different experiences and learning aspects, and in each game that I’ve played in, I’ve learned something and taken something away from it.

“The first day I came in, all the players and managerial staff were fantastic with me. The players have welcomed me really well and helped me to settle in.”

When asked if he had any nerves before his senior debut at Bury, he replied: “I think there’s a lit bit of nerves, but that just gets the adrenalin going – and you remember the experience for the rest of your life.”