Young striker continues recuperation with a goal
George Oakley continued his impressive return after injury with another goal as an AFC Wimbledon development team were just beaten by Charlton Athletic yesterday.
In a match played at Charlton’s training ground, Alan Reeves’ young squad pushed the Addicks all the way, before succumbing to a 2-1 defeat.
Oakley’s first-half goal was the highlight for Wimbledon, but Alan was delighted with his squad’s overall display as they prepare for their competitive opener at AFC Bournemouth on 6 September in the rebranded Central League South East.
“Our best asset was putting the ball in and around George Oakley as he held the ball up well,” said Alan. “He’s still a work in progress because he’s not yet had 90 minutes since returning, but he is showing a lot of promise. Joe McDonnell also played really well, his kicking was brilliant.
“Charlton had three or four first-team squad players coming back after injury, but that’s often the way it is. Our boys had to stand up and be counted, but nine times out of 10 they’ve done that. They worked their socks off. We had a lot of young kids who produced good performances and we could take a lot of positives from it.
“They made a few individual errors, but that’s always going to be the case as they are still learning. As long as the young players keep learning and keep improving we will try and get them up to the first-team squad.”
Oakley showed good strength to beat his marker and earn a shooting chance, before finishing clinically, to register Wimbledon’s only goal. It was 1-1 at half-time with Patrick Bauer on target for Charlton.
The hosts made five half-time substitutions and that gave them the extra push to go on and net what turned out to be the winner through Regan Charles-Cook. However, the introductions of Reece Williams-Bowers and Jayden Antwi helped Wimbledon finish strongly, but they were just unable to find a late equaliser.
AFC Wimbledon: Joe McDonnell, trialist (Osaze Urhoghide), Toby Sibbick, Paul Kalambayi, Seth Owens, Neset Bellikli, Alfie Egan, Seanan McKillop (Louie Cockle), Nathan Wood (Reece Williams-Bowers), Toyosi Olusanya, George Oakley (Jayden Antwi).