Interviews with Williams-Bowers and Kalambayi
Reece Williams-Bowers and Paul Kalamabayi are under no illusions that improvement will be needed if the young Dons are to go on another impressive FA Youth Cup run this season.
Williams-Bowers earned the Man of the Match award from manager Mark Robinson and Kalambayi captained AFC Wimbledon to an 8-1 cup win against North Greenford United last night, but both players understand that bigger tests will be to come.
During an interview for our official You Tube channel, Kalambayi, a first year professional who plays for our development squad, said: “When I stepped down (to the Under-18s) results were not going our way so I had to drag the team up and give the boys confidence. Eventually they started coming through and we are starting to get where we should be. I see us stepping in the right direction if we keep listening to ‘Robbo’ and learning. I reckon we can keep moving forward and progress.
“The manager believed that the first-half (last night) was not good enough and we got told that at half-time. The manager got into me because I was not really playing according to plan. I had to change that. Most of the time I’ve been playing for the Under-21s this season, but I have to adapt when I play for the Under-18s because it’s a different style of football. There is still room for improvement because we can do better than we did in the first-half.”
Williams-Bowers, who turned down Fulham a few years ago to stay with AFC Wimbledon, was also a part of the Under-18s squad who marched all the way to the last-16 of the FA Youth Cup last season.
The attacking midfielder thrived on the big stage again last night and he is enjoying his football this season.
“It is a good experience for us because we get to showcase what we can do in front of the first-team manager,” he said. “I was a bit disappointed not to score, but it’s a team game at the end of the day. I am not that fussed as I got three assists and that counts more. ‘Robbo’ spoke to me at half-time because I had kept dropping in and he told me to stay higher up the pitch. He said that I would be more effective up there so that’s what I did and I managed to get on the end of things.”
channel earlier today.You TubeAn interview with manager Mark Robinson featured on our official