ROVERS Under-18s may be struggling at the wrong end of their league table but their FA Youth Cup adventure is gathering momentum.

Boosted by the available of Dan Butterworth and Callum Wright, boss Billy Barr says the option available to him in each competition is ‘night and day’.

The pair, who scored in Wednesday’s fourth round win over Watford at Ewood Park, have become regulars for Damien Johnson’s Under-23s side, while the likes of midfielders John Buckley and Ben Paton and winger Jack Vale have also had a taste of life at the more senior Academy level.

Butterworth was included in the first-team squad for the New Year's Day trip to Rotherham United while Wright continues to impress at Academy level.

And Barr believes their involvement in the Youth Cup ties show just what a good group of players the club is bringing through at this level.

“That’s as strong a group as we’ve got at the moment and the difference between our Youth Cup team and our league team at the moment is night and day,” Barr said after his side booked their place in the FA Youth Cup fifth round.

“The ones that play in the league one have to really step up to the mark or as a staff we look at something different and don’t open them up as much.

“We played a different shape (3-4-3) and maybe that could suit us more moving forward.

“They are getting more touches of the ball, in better areas of the pitch and we have the ball more.

“If you go back to our last league game against Liverpool (a 6-1 defeat) we were dreadful, we didn’t have the ball, we kept giving it back but the first-half was exactly how we want to play.”

Despite being a Category One Academy, Rovers entered the competition at the first round stage following the club being in League One.

They have so far seen off Tranmere Rovers, Wrexham, Stoke City and Watford, with their performances getting more impressive by the round.

Barr’s side will host Nottingham Forest, who beat Leicester City in round four, in the last 16 as they bid to replicate the class of 2015/16 who reached the semi-final stages.

“Two years we had played this many games and were in the semi-final,” Barr joked.

“It’s Nottingham Forest now, we watched them on Monday and they had a lad sent off after 20 minutes but went on to win on penalties.

“They showed a great spirit so it will be a difficult game but if we perform how we did in the first-half then we’ll be close.”

The Rovers youngsters had previously struggled to get to grips with the Ewood Park pitch, losing in disappointing fashion to Aston Villa in last year’s competition on penalties at the fourth round stage.

But Barr admits his group are growing in confidence the more they play on the first-team arena.

He said: “The groundsman is getting sick of us!

“But the lads are getting more comfortable with it as you can see.

“Ultimately that’s where they want to play first-team football so those games they will have played are great for them.”