No travel sickness ahead of Youth Cup clash, says Wilson

The Magpies take on Norwich City at Carrow Road on Wednesday night, having already travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace in the competition so far.

Another victory will see United make it to the last eight for the fourth time in five years, and wide-man Wilson believes that the time on the road they are spending together is only helping the current crop’s cause.

“We’re all together on the day of the game and the day before. It brings us closer together, and the lads don’t mind playing away from home,” he told nufc.co.uk. “Everyone’s excited to go down there and hopefully get a result against Norwich. Training’s been good recently – we’ve been playing a lot quicker. Everyone’s ready for the game.

“The Youth Cup games are the biggest games of the season, in my view. Playing at the big stadiums – at Palace, at home at St. James’ last year – is unbelievable. Every game is a big one – it doesn’t matter if it’s the Third Round, the Fourth Round, or whatever. You just want to get through.”

United’s run in the competition has coincided with an upturn in their form in the Under-18 Premier League.

Between August and December, Dave Watson’s side failed to win a single game in the 12-team division, only to break their duck in spectacular fashion by beating Manchester City 5-2 away from home.

The Magpies recorded another heavy victory on Saturday – 4-1 at West Bromwich Albion – and Wilson insists that their current purple patch is just deserts for their efforts over the campaign as a whole.

“I think the results are finally falling our way. In the first half of the season, we were playing well, we were just a bit unlucky and not getting the results,” he said. “They’re landing for us now. They’re coming in, and they’re showing how we’ve been playing. We deserve it.

“Going away to Man City, a lot of teams like to defend a lot, but we pressed them from the front. We were at them, in their faces, and I think that’s what we needed to do. Teams give them respect but we did our own thing and played our own way.

“Even when we’ve been losing, the mood’s always been good in the Academy. We’ve always been trying, working hard in training, and now we’re finally getting results.”