Darlington's teenagers take centre stage this evening with a North-East derby being the first of a cup double-header for the club.

Saturday sees Quakers begin the defence of the FA Trophy with a tie at Grimsby Town while tonight their under-18s face Newcastle United in the FA Youth Cup at St James' Park.

Both sides are top of their respective divisions while the spotlight has shone on Darlington's youth section this season with Dale Hopson and Scott Harrison both making their first-team debuts in recent weeks.

With supporters keen to see local lads given a chance, interest in the team's fortunes is growing while there will again be a glut of scouts in attendance just as there was for the previous round's win over Shrewsbury.

Head of youth Craig Liddle is to thank for Hopson and Harrison's elevation, having placed his faith in youth when several senior players left the club.

He is in caretaker charge of the first team and is treating tonight's tie as seriously as he would a senior match.

He said: "The lads are normally at college on a Wednesday, but I managed to pull them out of that so we could have a good day of preparation ready for Thursday and they're looking forward to it.

"I've watched two DVDs of how Newcastle play.

"I've probably got more input at that level than I have at first-team level because I've got contacts to get me the DVDs.

"They've watched us on two or three occasions so they'll know what we're capable of and we know what they're all about.

"As long as we go there and give a good account of ourselves I'll be proud of the boys because they've done fantastically well to get this far."

Darlington are aiming to go one better than last season when they lost in the third round stage at Arsenal.

In five ties in the competition so far Liddle's lads have scored 19 goals in defeating Gateshead (3-0), Chester-le-Street (4-0), Altrincham (3-0), Sheffield (7-1) and Shrewsbury (2-0).

Striker Chris Dickinson is responsible for seven of those goals having notched in each round so far while Tom Robson has netted in the past three ties.

Many of the teenagers will no doubt hope they can follow Hopson and Harrison into the first team, and Liddle added: "The youth team lads will be looking at Scott and Dale and hoping to get an opportunity.

"There's one or two others that could come in who I know would not let anybody down."

Nineteen-year-old Hopson, who played in Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Kettering, will not feature as he is too old for the Youth Cup, but Harrison will start.

He was on the bench on Tuesday having made his senior debut in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Forest Green Rovers

Although Liddle receives the bulk of the credit for the club's burgeoning youth section, it will also be a proud evening for Neil Maddison.

The former midfielder, who was made part-time by the club in the summer, oversees Quakers' under-16s section, the final stage before players progress to the youth team.

Liddle added: "Maddo coaches them a couple of times a week and he takes the games on a Sunday so he tips me off and gives me reports on who's doing well in away games if I've not been there.

"I watch them as well to see who is coming through.

"A club of this size needs a solid youth set-up. In the last four or five years we've had a bit of consistency at youth level, you need that to bring the players through.

"We've had a good few years now of players coming through. Dale and Scott came to the club quite late, but there's others lads who we've brought through the system that have been with us a little longer who hopefully we'll see in the first-team one day."

While Quakers have already had five ties, tonight's game is the first of the season in the competition for Newcastle who are coached by Dave Watson, an FA Cup winner in 1995 with Everton.

He said: "Obviously playing at the big stadium is fantastic for the kids and there is a buzz about cup football.

"Darlington are a very decent team so we'll need to be at our best.

"They're well organised and they're good at set plays, so we're well aware of their strengths and weaknesses - as I'm sure they are of ours."

n Kick-off this evening is 7pm with admission £3 adults and £1.50 concessions.

Newcastle supporters are asked to use turnstiles 44, 45, 46 and 47 with 39 and 40 for Darlington fans.