September 5 2003

Tariq Nabil

Saturday's friendly at home to Brescia will give Steve Kember an opportunity to blood some of the promising Academy youngsters.

Kember said: "With the Ipswich game postponed, this has given me an excellent chance to rest some of my players who are carrying various knocks and niggling injuries.

"I plan to give Tom Soares, Tariq Nabil and Tyrone Berry a run out this weekend. They’re three more products from the Academy and are the next set of players to come through after Wayne Routledge, Ben Watson and Gary Borrowdale.

"They will be up against some top-class players and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on."

Meanwhile, Routledge and Borrowdale have been called up for the England U19 squad for a tournament in Russia between September 20 and 24.