Braybrooke Relishing 'Extra Motivation' Of FA Youth Cup Run

Academy
31 Jan 2022
2 Minutes
Captain Sammy Braybrooke toasted the Leicester City Under-18s' FA Youth Cup progress at AFC Bournemouth, having played a key role in the 5-1 win on Friday night.

- Sammy Braybrooke captained the side as they won in the FA Youth Cup Fifth Round at AFC Bournemouth
- The midfielder scored a crucial volley to make it 3-1 at Vitality Stadium
- The Young Foxes will now play Manchester United or Everton in the quarter-finals

Goals from Will Alves and Chris Popov gave City a two-goal lead at the interval, however when the Cherries halved the advantage shortly after the restart, momentum appeared to be shifting in the home side's favour.

Braybrooke's controlled volley stemmed the tide, though, before substitute Brandon Cover then added a late double to build the scoreline further at Vitality Stadium.

"It's a great feeling, for us as a team that's what we want to do - we want to go far in this competition," explained Braybrooke to LCFC.com following the game. "We think we have the belief to do well in this competition, so it's good to get through to the next round and then hopefully the round after that.

"We expected them to come out quick [in the second half] with us 2-0 up, and it was a fast start from them. My goal helped massively and sort of took their momentum away and gave the momentum to us to kick on and slow the game down.

"I thought Jack [Butterfill] was going to shoot when I first played the ball to him. Then it just fell to me and I had more time than I expected, I was close to the goal so I shot and it went in.

"We then got control of the game, so it was a massive moment in the game."

My goal helped massively and sort of took their momentum away and gave the momentum to us to kick on and slow the game down.

Sammy Braybrooke

The win in front of supporters in Dorset tees the side up for a quarter-final tie away at either Manchester United or Everton, with the draw having taken place earlier on Friday.

Braybrooke - who has also experienced being in the matchday squad with the first team in recent weeks - sees the benefits of playing against such renowned sides in the competition.

"It's definitely great playing in different stadiums," he continued. "It gives you extra motivation to hopefully play there one day in the first team. It gives you that extra buzz and energy to go out and perform with those extra fans there as well.

"[The draw] was an extra motivation, playing another Category One team. It's a great feeling. The FA Youth Cup's a special competition, you only have two years of playing in it so you've got to cherish the moments when you do well and hopefully we can have more moments like that."