Reaction and pictures from last night's victory
Shaun North hailed his young squad’s application and desire after AFC Wimbledon clinched the London Senior Cup last night.
With only two players in the whole squad over the age of 21 – Seb Brown and Chris Arthur are both 24 years of age – it was a tough test for the Dons against Ryman Premier outfit Metropolitan Police.
But they passed with flying colours and Wimbledon's under-21 development coach said afterwards that playing in front of around 700 supporters at Imber Court will hold them in good stead for the future.
“The boys were terrific and their attitude was first-class,” said Shaun. “One of two of the boys had disappointments in the last couple of weeks, but I was pleased with them all tonight. We tried to play when it was on and we defended well when we needed to. The whole performance was good. We play every game to win, but the fact there was a prize at the end of it made it sweeter.
“The boys have had a little taste of playing in front of supporters, rather than just their Mums and Dads. They could hear a few moans and groans when they gave the ball away and cheers when they managed to keep hold of it. If they go onto progress in the way that we hope then they will need to get used to that. I said when I first came in that my job is to progress players into the first-team. That could be existing first-team players who need to keep fit to step back up or young boys progressing from the youth team.”
The above photograph was taken by Andy Nunn and more pictures of Wimbledon’s victories squad (taken by Charlie Kemp) are available in our gallery above.
.Your AFC WimbledonLast night’s win capped a memorable day for 18-year-old Will Nightingale after he signed his first professional contract at AFC Wimbledon. Our WDON commentary team caught up with Will after last night’s win and the audio interview is available by clicking on
Will said: “It was a great team performance and we all had to dig deep towards the end because we made it hard for ourselves. I can do a bit better myself and sloppy mistakes play on my mind. It was a great victory for us though and a good win for the fans to finish the season on a high.
“Tom Beere has good technique and ability. He can certainly hit a ball and shooting is one of his better qualities. It was a great goal and what a way to win it.”
.Dons You TubeIf you've not yet watched our video of Shaun North's training session a few days before the final win, click on