Elliott Dickman has called for his players to savour every second of playing in front of more than 20,000 fans at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.
Thousands of tickets have been snapped up for tomorrow’s Premier League International Cup final against Portuguese giants Porto.
- Tickets: Fans can collect a free ticket for Wednesday's final at the Black Cat House ticket office.
- David Moyes praises the achievement of the U23s.
- How the U23s became European finalists.
Admission to the game is free, with fans asked to collect a ticket from the Black Cat House ticket office in advance of the fixture, and Dickman has hailed the response from the red and white army.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the under-23s boss revelled in the thought of his players plying their trade on a grandstand, admitting it is a great development tool for his team.
“The support from the fans has been absolutely fantastic,” he smiled.
“It is a new experience for us all and they will hopefully be looking at some stars of the future.
“It will be the biggest crowd some of the lads have played in front of so that will be a learning curve in itself.
“To be able to handle the pressure of that as well as the final.
“The big thing from our side of things is to see them learn from it and that we see improvements in whatever they do in the game.
“Hopefully we can win it but if we don’t then there will be a lot of positives to take out of the game.”
