Young Dons warm-up for hard task in style
AFC Wimbledon Under-18s go into Saturday’s “huge test” against last season’s FA Youth Cup finalists Fulham in buoyant mood after an impressive pre-season so far.
The young Dons will face a tough challenge at Fulham’s training ground in their sixth match so far this summer, but they have made a highly promising start with five wins and 32 goals scored in the process.
Wimbledon’s latest warm-up match ended in a 4-0 win at the FAB Academy, a highly-regarded youth set-up headed up by former Reading Academy coach Nas Bashir, at Bisham Abbey.
Dan Agyei was quick off the mark as he put the Dons 1-0 up in just the sixth minute after good work by Egli Kaja. First-year Under-18 Nez Bellikli then picked up the mantle in style with two fine finishes after being set-up by Reece Batchelor and Billy Frost respectively.
Frost (pictured) was influential throughout and he received the man of the match award for another creative performance. Callum Overton completed the scoring from 12 yards after winning the penalty himself.
Under-18s manager Mark Robinson said: “I set the standards very high for the boys in everything they do, but in the first 30 minutes their football was of an excellent standard. They produced a wonderful array of short and long football with intelligent running off the ball that would have caused most teams problems. The FAB Academy have also scored goals against other professional academy sides so it was good to keep another clean sheet too.
“We now have an in-house game on Thursday against our Under-21s and trialists before we face Fulham. Obviously, that will be a huge test for the boys, but I know we can give any team at this level a game if we are in the right frame of mind and have self-belief.”