Mansfield Town under-19s kick-off their Youth Alliance Cup campaign tomorrow afternoon in an encounter with Burton Albion at RH Academy (2pm kick-off).

The young Stags are in a group with Salford, Rochdale and Stockport, as well as the Brewers.

Mansfield performed excellently at the weekend.

Goals from Jakub Kruszynski and Ronnie Kokkinos were on the scoresheet at RH Academy against Rotherham.

Speaking to the club ahead of tomorrow’s Youth Alliance Cup fixture, head of Academy goalkeeping Adam Collin said: “The previous game against Rotherham was a superb performance.

“Rotherham have a certain style of play and we stood up to that.

“We let our football come out on top.

“The two centre-halves [Cormac Maher and Ben Whelan] stood up and did very well – especially Cormac who’s very young.

“Jakub Kruszynski and Bailey Hamilton really impressed in midfield as well.”

On what to expect in tomorrow’s clash, Adam said: “We expect another tough game tomorrow.

“Burton are always competitive, they have a long throw at their disposal and are strong from set plays.

“We’ll focus on ourselves.”

As Academy head of goalkeeping, Adam has seen under-19s’ goalkeepers Louie Turner and Theo Avery enjoy fine starts to the new campaign.

“I’ve been delighted with the goalkeepers so far this season,” he said.

“Louie [Turner] has gone out on loan to Heanor which is fantastic for him and his career pathway.

“The squad made Theo Avery captain recently and he was involved in the first team squad in midweek. I’m excited to see how he develops.

“We let the lads decide their captain for six to eight week periods. The vote was last week and so Theo will take over from Charlie Carter who was captain in pre-season.”

On the positive atmosphere at RH Academy, Adam said: “We had a great team day out in Skegness which set the tone ahead of the Rotherham game.

“Theo was then involved with first team, and we had five of the squad train with first team.

“Theo [Avery], Bailey Hamilton, Charlie Carter, Jakub Kruszynski and Darrien Wauchope were all involved.

“All reports from the manager were that they did well.

“With tomorrow’s match taking place on a Friday, some of the first team will be able to watch the boys after their training.

“We’re looking for development and progression [this season].

“We’re superb going forward but on the defensive side, it was a real bonus keeping a clean sheet last week.

“We want to have an emphasis on being tough to break down.

“We’re a match for any team at under-19 level.”