BILLY Barr is looking for his Rovers youngsters to put aside their Ewood Park nerves in a bid to progress in the FA Youth Cup.

A place in round three is the aim for Barr’s side when they host Wrexham tonight (7pm) with last year’s beaten semi-finalists Stoke City awaiting the winner.

With so much emphasis placed on development, rather than results, at Academy level, Barr says the Youth Cup offers a unique experience for young footballers.

“It’s a different form of development because the result does matter,” Barr said.

“We don’t go off results normally but if you want to get into the next round then the result matters.

“We try and do it through training – everything is competitive and has a consequence. That winning mentality, if you’re going to have a career, it’s something you have to have.

“It could well go to penalties, we’re prepared for that, it’s about getting through the tie. The last round we played well, on another night we might have scored a couple more goals so if we can do that again, that’d be great.”

Rovers have had plenty of success in this competition, reaching the semi-finals in 2015/16, but usually enter the competition at the third round stage. Owing to the first-team’s relegation, they were involved from round one, with a Callum Dolan strike giving them a 1-0 win over Tranmere on November 1.

Barr added: “I thought we played really well in the last round and we’re looking to emulate that in this round.

“We’ve been used to being in the third round over the last however many years and we want to continue that.

“It’s another game, we prepare for everyone the same way and we will give Wrexham the respect that they deserve.

“Hopefully the work we do will give us some sort of cohesion as a team because we’ve been guilty at Ewood, particularly in the last few years, of not being very good.”

That includes a penalty shoot-out defeat to Aston Villa last season, with only a handful of this current Under-18s crop having played on the senior pitch.

Dan Butterworth and Callum Wright, regulars with the Under-23s squad, will return to their age group to feature, while Ben Paton, John Buckley and Jack Vale have all featured for Damien Johnson’s side.

Barr has taken his squad around the first-team stadium in a bid to acclimatise them to it, and added: “It is (different). That’s where they want to end up and this is the first step for some of them.

“Some have already played there but it does make a difference to them, the emotion of the evening, the build-up.

“It’s no different from our point of view, we still prepare the same as we would for a game on a Saturday but they put that undue pressure on themselves to maybe perform differently because it’s Ewood.”

With a number of his squad having moved up to Under-23s level, and injuries to almost every second year during some stage of the season, it has been a tough start for Barr’s side, who last year reached the Elite play-offs.

“We’ve had a lot of beatings where the lads are probably a bit early.

“It started on day one in pre-season against Preston where we were well beaten and it was a rude awakening for some of them and is something that we will refer back to.

“We’ve got a blend of first years and Under-16s whereas the last few years it has been a lot stronger, mainly second years that have played.

“There’s a big difference, the first six months is crucial to them and developing everything that goes with being a young aspiring footballer.

“This year some have been blooded a lot earlier than some have in the past.”

Barr comes up against one of his former clubs this evening having spent three years working on the coaching staff at Wrexham between 2011 and 2014.  They included a play-off semi-final defeat to Luton as well as an FA Trophy win over Grimsby Town in the club’s first ever visit to Wembley.

Reflecting on his time at the Racecourse Ground, Barr said: “I had a good period working there, good people and we were unfortunate not to get promoted.

“We had one really good season where we got 98 points but Fleetwood had 103, Mr (Jamie) Vardy was the big key. They signed him and he won many a game for them.

“I still keep in touch with people, I went down to the last round and it was nice to see some of the staff that I worked with in the past. It will be business on the night, I know they will be prepared, done all their work properly and we’re expecting a difficult tie.”