Marc Bridge-Wilkinson was delighted to see Liverpool U18s reach the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals with a 5-1 win over Leicester City on Friday night.

James Balagizi netted a hat-trick – his first goals of the season – and Max Woltman scored twice in the victory at Leicester's new training ground in Seagrave.

It sets up a last-eight tie at home to Arsenal, with the venue and date of the fixture to be announced in due course.

Read on as Bridge-Wilkinson reflects on a positive outing for his team…

On the overall display at Leicester…

I thought Leicester played very well and it was a tough game. We started the game very well, scored an early goal and then similar to our game at Manchester United we kind of came off our game a little bit and allowed Leicester to gain a little bit of momentum. The game was quite even for a long period and perhaps the scoreline really flatters us, but we are really pleased and happy to be in the next round.

On Balagizi netting a hat-trick…

Bala had a great night and we are pleased for him, and it's always special to get your hat-trick. It was always important to get that first goal. It was a great bit of play from Dom [Corness] and Bala's finish was fantastic. His second goal was a great bit of team play from Chuck [James Norris] and then Bala produced a little bit of magic in the box and managed to get it home.

On goalkeeper Harvey Davies making several crucial saves while the score was still only 1-0…

Harvey stepped up to it for us. When 'keepers are needed, you need them to do it and Harvey did that for us. As much as we are really pleased with the goals at the other end, we are really chuffed with the saves that he made as well.

On Woltman netting a double to take his tally to 10 goals for the season so far…

Two great goals, one disallowed as well and a couple of other good chances. Max is a man in form, so let's hope we can keep getting him the opportunities to score.

On the return to fitness of Melkamu Frauendorf after his lively appearance off the bench…

Mel did really well. When you put a substitute on you want them to have an impact and make a mark on the game. Mel certainly did that, so we are really pleased with his performance.

On the home quarter-final tie with Arsenal…

It will be nice to play at home and hopefully we will be in good shape and be able to put in a really good performance against them, because Arsenal are a very good team.