Make sure you see this Young Rebels team

One of their England internationals, James Fraser, is now with the British Colleges team who are touring and he looks certain to miss the match. Striker and semi-final goalscorer Ash Rees has a damaged ankle that he did well on which to survive even the first half that he did against Bury Town. And one of their team leaders and spark-plugs, Mickey Demetriou, their quarter-final winning scorer, is unavailable.

The violence into which Athletic's semi-final erupted before its abandonment will be a warning to Worthing and a test of their character. Croydon secretary Rob Cavallini avowed: "We are team is not a bunch of hooligans but if someone is hitting you, then you are going to fight back."

Any short fuses on the Worthing team will need to be held well in check, or Rebels, in front of their own home crowd, will blow the best chance they will ever have to seize a trophy they have not lifted for 25 years.

What crowd? Worthing fans en masse do not seem to realise what this football is all about. The Youth Cup attendances at Woodside have progressed from 55 to see Worthing beat Staines, to 89 who saw them outclass Kingstonian, to the 112 who saw them do the same to Bury Town in the semi-final.

The great clubs on Merseyside and in the North East do not treat their youngsters with such disdain. Yet many of this Worthing team have conquered, for Sussex, as County Champions this year (they were beaten finalists last) the best those great footballing regions had to offer.

To the missing supporters, I say this: if you seek the holy grail of what they hype as The Beautiful Game, for all the money you will pay, or all the time you spend watching TV, you are not going to find it very often watching adult professional or even semi-pro football. In pro there is too much at stake and too much street wisdom. In semi-pro, there is the same, on a smaller scale, and the quality of the football itself has been in steady decline.

But the best Under-18 soccer, typified by this Worthing side in the last two rounds, is capable of delivering some of the purest football you can still hope to behold. The level of skill and commitment is high and the attitude is in its last blossom of youth before being tainted by adult footballing values and priorities. The teams allow each other to play. Imagination and inventiveness has free rein. Confidence is absolute. Entertainment bubbles.

The signs of what is inevitably to come were evident in the play of Bury Town's team. There were two quite cynical fouls, one in each half, both on Jason Winch, both yellow carded by the referee, and Worthing Youth XI co-coach Bob Bantock commented afterwards: "Bury are one of those teams who are based on a football academy. They train or play every day and you can see the things that are being taught young players of this age on the continent. They learn the tricks of the adult pro game."

While Worthing dazzled with their attacking verve and invention, with Jamie Brotherton again looking a big fish in a small pool, the more intensively-coached and trained Bury, who pick from a pool of more than 50, according to their squad-numbered playing shirts, were made to look totally ordinary and almost nondescript.

Substitute Scott Chaplin suddenly frightened Rebels because as a quick lad eager to take others on, he completely broke the Bury mould. But he couldn't shoot and he sometimes panicked with his passing so Worthing recovered most of their composure and gritted out the last 20 minutes to ensure they reached the destination of the final.

Worthing's absent supporters are already about to miss the big moment. This Worthing side will be next season without England full-back Steve Bantock, who is bound for a college in the United States. The elusive Jason Winch, their captain and one of several excellent dead-ball kick deliverers, is moving to Jersey, and several more will be too old, including Steve Phillips, a quality keeper in the making, centre-half Stuart Axten, midfielder Karl Akehurst and forward Brotherton.

And although lost to this team, which will be unrepeatable after Tuesday's final, Phillips, Axten, Akehurst and Brotherton will not necessarily be at Woodside next season.

Others will not make the adult grade, some witll disappear altogether, or switch to other sports, as may Ash Rees who may be capable of a career in golf. These are the overriding reason why Rebels' players must grasp their own moment against Croydon Athletic. Most are about to forge a memorable moment of their footballing lives that cannot be re-enacted.