The competition, previously named the Checkatrade Trophy due to sponsorship, is in its fourth year with invited academy teams involved alongside the 48 clubs from League One and League Two. Teams face each other once in the regionalised group stage before the top two advance to the knockout round.

The young Blues reached the last-16 in 2018/19 after topping their group, though they were eventually beaten by Peterborough United at Stamford Bridge. Our best run came the year before when we advanced all the way to the semi-finals before narrowly losing to Lincoln City on penalties.

Joe Edwards’s side visited the County Ground last August and won with a convincing performance and four goals without reply. We also made the trip to Plymouth and beat the Pilgrims 5-0 with Charlie Brown and Tino Anjorin among the goals.

Our first game in the competition back in 2016 was at Swindon where a side featuring Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount were narrowly beaten.

All games in the group stage will be played away from home for the development teams, with dates and ticket information to be announced shortly.