Tom's late strike rewards rising group
Substitute Tom Beere’s late winner against Dagenham & Redbridge earned reward for a crop of youngsters making their respective debuts for AFC Wimbledon Under-18s.
With the majority of Mark Robinson’s regular squad having played in Wimbledon’s Surrey County Cup tie at Sutton United two days previously, it was a much-changed line-up that helped the Dons to a 2-1 victory on Saturday against a side flying high in the Football League Youth Alliance South East Division.
Under-16s players Callum Willson, Ben Harrison, Ryan Sweeney and Egli Kaja all showed promise on their debuts, according to Mark Robinson, who also brought Terry Murray, Rob Switon and Nas Majeed into his squad on Saturday.
minute to leave the Dons with plenty of work to do.thDespite the changes, it was far from a disjointed performance from Wimbledon as they started brightly and they could have taken the lead when Kieran Tarbie shot wide and then Kaja had an effort saved. The visitors came into it though and they broke the deadlock in the 25
Wimbledon’s youngsters were up to the challenge though and they equalised in fine style 10 minutes later when Charlie Craig finished off a good team move emphatically.
The Dons continued their impressive work after the break and they could have been in front through both Tarbie and Kaja after the restart. However, they did finally get the winner through substitute Beere (pictured) when he applied the finish after excellent play down the wing from Kaja.
That left Academy Manager Mark Robinson very pleased with the way his young side stepped up for the challenge against a Dagenham team currently fifth in the table.
“With a squad that included only three players that were involved at Sutton, this was an excellent victory,” said Mark. “The boys worked extremely hard for each other and there were several impressive individual performances. Nas Majeed made a big impact when he came on as substitute and Egli Kaja was excellent on the day.”
AFC Wimbledon Under-18s: Jack Greenaway, Ben Harrison, Callum Wilson, Ryan Sweeney, Terry Murray, Khan Williams-Mitchell, Charlie Craig, Kieran Tarbie (Rob Switon), Egli Kaja, Harlen Basker (Tom Beere), Sam Baffour (Nas Majeed).