Our U21s have been on a roll recently with good wins and lovely passages of neat, attractive football.

It highlights the confidence the team is currently playing with and is credit to the work being put in on and off the pitch from both the players and the coaching staff.

One of the consistent squad members relied upon by the development squad is Alfie Gilchrist, who has pushed on from his impressive performances last year to being a mainstay within the team this year.

• Click for ticket info for tonight's game

• The live stream on website and app begins at 6.55pm, one of three this weekend

He spoke on what it means for him and the team to be playing so well.

Confidence is through the roof

He said that, 'As a team we have come a long way and it has all been a process that we have all committed to. It has been small habits in training, staying focused for longer periods of time, being in and around the first team a lot more, it is all helping us become better footballers individually but also contributing to the team success.'

He went on to add that, 'I think we are playing well because there is also so much talent amongst us. We have quality in all the positions so we just build on chemistry and we have the freedom to let our hard work and talent do the talking.

'At the beginning of the season, it was a slow start, even despite being unbeaten since August there have been a lot of draws in games where we were in control. Now that we are winning games convincingly it shows that we are learning from our mistakes of old.'

Personal growth

The young centre-back has been a rock in defence, wearing the armband in Bashir Humphrey's absence on occasions and he has said that his individual improvement is so important to him.

He said, 'Personally, I have been filled with so much belief in my ability as the coaching staff have given me a lot more responsibility in the build-up phase of play and I like this.'

Gilchrist added that, 'It is clear what our target is and that is to take every game as it comes and then see where we are at the end of the season.'

Reverse fixture

In our game against West Ham United earlier in the season, we battled to a 1-0 victory away from home despite some tense moments. Lewis Hall scored the winner.

We did create a number of opportunities as Omari Hutchinson had chances to score and Derrick Abu hit the crossbar but the solitary goal was enough to give us the three points.

A win keeps us top of the table, however, Manchester City who currently sit in second, do have a game-in-hand over us.