Leicester City academy take on Anstey Nomads in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night

Leicester City Under-18s begin their FA Youth Cup campaign this evening when they face local non-league side Anstey Nomads at Cropston Road.

The young Foxes enter the competition earlier than usual this season following Leicester's relegation to League One, putting them in the same round as a number of non-league clubs. Leicester have never won the competition, with their run to the semi-finals in 2015 remaining their best performance to date.

The Under-18s will play at Anstey's Cropston Road ground, where the Nomads' first team is managed by former Leicester goalkeeper Conrad Logan and coached by David Nugent. Leicester head into the tie unbeaten in four matches, including a 4-0 victory over Reading in the Premier League Under-18s Cup.

Forward Jake Fletcher is another player to watch, having scored seven goals in his last five games. Lutterworth-born Matt Rains, who replaced Adam Barradell as Under-18s boss earlier this season, is relishing his first experience of the FA Youth Cup.

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"It's my first experience of it with the Under-18s," he said. "You can certainly tell there's a buzz and I think it's one of those things in the calendar at the start of the season that everyone looks forward to, staff and players. The players are certainly excited and talking about the game, like you said, even more so probably because it's Anstey as well.

"There's some close relations there, if you like, between the players. They'll know some of them, they'll be friends with them. So there'll definitely be a little bit of rivalry on the night, I'm sure. And the staff as well.

"Like I say, everyone kind of looks forward to this event and it offers, I think, the lads the opportunity to experience something slightly different to their normal programme, where obviously it's knockout football. So potentially there's a little bit more on these games in terms of pressure and those sorts of things, which the boys really do enjoy.

"They want to experience that and the opportunity to play at stadiums and things. We're looking forward to the game on Wednesday. It's an opportunity again to play a totally different team that we don't normally get to play. So that's exciting for us."

Supporters rarely get the chance to watch Leicester's Under-18s in action, although Under-21s matches at Seagrave regularly attract fans. Tickets are available for Wednesday's match, offering supporters an opportunity to see some of the club's emerging talents.

Rains, who has worked with the likes of Jayden Joseph, Will Alves and Sammy Braybrooke in the academy, believes supporters could be watching a future first-team player when Leicester take on Anstey. "From our side as a group of academy staff, it's great at the minute with how many boys we've got in that first team and being part of the first team squad as playing, but we certainly don't rest on that," he said.

"The crop, if you like, of Under-18s that we've got at the minute, our job is on preparing them to hopefully take those next steps into the Under-21s. Some of the group already have, some are kind of waiting to do that and some of them will obviously do it in the next year or two of their scholarship.

"There's definitely an opportunity with our track record to say that, yeah, potentially on the night, hopefully there's some future first team Leicester City players on that pitch and in that squad."