Captain Kyle's Youth Cup Ambition

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Kyle Cameron believes that last year's FA Youth Cup heartache will spur Newcastle United on in this season's competition.

The Magpies face Middlesbrough in a fourth round tie at the Riverside Stadium on Thursday (kick-off 7pm), having navigated a tricky away tie at Millwall in the previous round last month.

In 2013/14, Dave Watson's youngsters reached the quarter-finals before losing 3-2 to eventual winners Chelsea after extra time at St. James' Park.

Rolando Aarons, Lubo Satka, Adam Armstrong, Freddie Woodman, Alex Gilliead and Olivier Kemen were all part of that line-up and Hexham-born defender Cameron insists that defeat will give United added motivation this time around.

"It does - and it also gives the lads a lot of confidence as well," the 17-year-old Scotland youth international - who captained Watson's side at Millwall - told nufc.co.uk.

"It pushes us on and makes everyone want to do well. Last year's group was a really strong group; we took Chelsea all the way and they went on to win it.

"That shows that there is ability at the Club and that there are a lot of young players coming through."

At the same stage last year, Newcastle were paired against Sunderland and won 4-0 at Gallowgate thanks to a strike from Armstrong and a memorable Jonathyn Quinn hat-trick.

Middlesbrough came from behind to beat Southend in the third round and, while the Tyne-Tees rivalry does not run nearly as deep as the Tyne-Wear one, it will undoubtedly be a keenly-contested affair.

"It's still classed as a derby," Cameron said. "Obviously the Sunderland game was classed much more as a derby but it's definitely still a derby and definitely a big game for us so we need to pull together and put a good performance in.

"It's a huge game for us - the biggest game of the season so far - but I think we can come out with a really positive result.

"If everyone works hard, gets together and works as a team, I think we'll have a good result on Thursday."

Callum Roberts - who made his first-team debut at Leicester in the FA Cup third round on Saturday - was among the scorers as United beat Millwall 3-1 last month to reach this stage.

Sean Longstaff and Ben Drennan were also on target at The Den and Cameron said: "It was a difficult place to go but everyone did pull together and we ground out a result.

"It was a comfortable 3-1 win - we didn't really get into fifth gear but there's still a lot more to come from us.

"The mood has been really positive. We're really confident for the game and looking forward to it."

Admission at the Riverside Stadium is £3 for adults and £1 for under-18s and over-65s. Tickets can be bought from the main ticket office to the right end of the West Stand. Car parking is £2 on a first come, first served basis.