By The Nark End
February 4 2010

EVERTON’S young guns must defeat Preston North End tonight to book a place in the quarter finals of the FA Youth Cup.

The U-18s face David Moyes’ former club in the fifth round of the competition at Deepdale on the back of an unbeaten run which started in October.

But head coach Neil Dewsnip is wary of his side’s lack of games due to the weather, and urged them to stay focused.

He said: “Our game on Saturday was called off when we got there, which was frustrating. But the upside of it was that no one got injured.

“The downside however, is that we desperately wanted to play as we've not played too much since Christmas, and the only game we've had was the one against Brighton in the previous round.

“Preston didn't play either as their game was called off too, so in that way it will be a level playing field, but we're expecting it to be incredibly tough.

“We will no doubt need to be at our very best to beat them, and I think both our players and our staff have taken that on board.”

Everton have still not had a home draw in the competition, and will also travel to face Blackburn should they make it to the final eight.

But despite having not seen his youngsters in action at Goodison so far, Dewsnip has been impressed with his side's professionalism on the road.

He said: “It's a cup competition so you have to take what comes. We all want the young players to play at Goodison, but with many of the boys playing in the Europa League game against BATE Borisov, a lot of our players will have that experience.

“The upside of travelling as a team is we get to spend time together and prepare like the first team would.”

Fans of both clubs are able to watch tonight’s game for free on production of a valid season ticket.