Brentford Under-18s will face Coventry City in the season opener on Saturday morning at CCFC Alan Higgs Centre in an 11.30am kick-off.

After being awarded Category Two status by the Premier League, Lydia Bedford’s side will now compete in the Professional Development League South where they face off against other clubs in the Football League.

About the Professional Development League

Brentford will face all teams in the south section of the competition twice before playing against all northern sides once.

The top two southern teams will then face the top two northern sides in a play-off to determine the winner of the overall title.

A positive pre-season

Bedford was challenged with integrating 12 new scholars to the squad ahead of what will be her second season in charge of the young Bees.

The side recently embarked in a tour to Germany as part of their preparation for the new season, playing two fixtures over a five-day period against the U17s teams of Bundesliga clubs Heidenheim and Bayern Munich.

Brentford first drew 3-3 in an entertaining contest against Heidenheim before rounding off their tour with a narrow 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich at the FC Bayern Arena.

Ready for the new season

Konstantin Ivanov was a consistent performer for the side last season, with the left-back helping the team to their Merit League 2 triumph.

The defender has proved to be a leader within the group and captained the side in their final pre-season fixture against Bayern Munich.

Talking about the new season, he said: “We all can’t wait to start, we’re in a new league against stronger teams so it’s going to be a test for us, but we can go into Saturday’s match against Coventry with confidence following a good pre-season.

“We all get on really well as a group which is important, I think pre-season and especially the tour to Germany helped with that.

“I believe we can have a really successful season with the new added talent to the group and I think we can cause teams a lot of problems.”