BRADFORD City will not want to slip up in the FA Youth Cup first round this year, as they face a banana skin away tie.

The young Bantams have been drawn away to Blyth Spartans for their opening game in the competition and will be hot favourites to move into the next round.

Blyth entered the tournament way back at the preliminary round stage, where they beat Hebburn Town 4-2.

They faced another North-East side in the next round, winning 5-1 at Newcastle Blue Star.

Spartans really made people sit up and take notice when they hammered Hartlepool 5-0 in the second qualifying round, and they set up their tie against the Bantams by impressively beating Rochdale 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

City have had a difficult few weeks in the EFL Youth Alliance North Division too, having started it with back-to-back victories over Shrewsbury Town and Stockport County.

They have lost all of their last five league games, including a crushing 7-0 defeat at leaders Bolton Wanderers, and now sit third-bottom of the 25-team table, above only Carlisle United and Huddersfield Town.

Lewis Boney is City's youth team captain and he will be looking to lead them out of the choppy waters they currently find themselves in.Lewis Boney is City's youth team captain and he will be looking to lead them out of the choppy waters they currently find themselves in. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

They will look to get back on track in the league at home to mid-table Burton Albion this weekend, before their FA Youth Cup clash at Blyth on Saturday, November 2.

The Bantams are joined in the first round of the competition by Guiseley and Farsley Celtic.

Both sides have impressively fought through the qualifying rounds, with Guiseley reaching this stage with an impressive 3-0 win at Macclesfield last Friday.

The game was goalless at the break, but George Sebine edged the young Lions in front on 53 minutes.

Lucas Alexander then scored two free kicks in two minutes to put them out of sight and into a first round tie at Harrogate Town.

Farsley Celtic made it through last Tuesday, as they earned a hard-fought 1-0 win at FC Halifax Town.

The reward for the young Celts comes in the form of a first-round tie at Accrington Stanley.