Alan Reeves is looking forward to seeing a lot more of what goal scorers Jack Rudoni and Tyler Burey can offer, after last night’s Surrey Senior Cup victory at Dorking Wanderers.
Our two Academy prospects both got on the score sheet with impressive goals as the young Dons turned the tie around in the second-half at Meadowbank, to earn a 2-1 victory and book Wimbledon’s place in the next round.
“Jack (pictured) has been dipping in and out, but now he’s going to be up with me a little bit more permanently,” said Alan, our Senior Professional Development Phase Coach, after the win. “We’re going to try and get him a little bit more under-23s football, get him training around the 23s and the first-team if we can and see how he responds. He’s a good footballer. He’s improved a lot physically over the last six to nine months.
“Tyler had been us with us for quite a while now. He was on the bench for the first-team at the weekend and he scored a great free-kick. You never know. He’s produced another good performance tonight, but it’s still a learning curve for him though as he’s only 17.”
The full interview with Alan Reeves can be seen below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.
Alan hopes the duo can inspire more of our Academy players to make the next step to the fringe of the first team squad: “As many players as we can get involved with the first-team squad, it will be better for the club. It saves the club money in the long run. It can only bode well for the younger lads beneath in the younger age groups. They can see there is a pathway to get into the first-team and then they will stay with us.”
Experienced striker Giuseppe Sole fired the hosts into an early lead from close range, but Alan got the response he wanted from Wimbledon’s youngsters in the second-half following some inspiring words at the break.
“We’re Wimbledon – if we get beat, we get beaten by a better team,” said Alan. “We don’t get beat by a team that out runs and out works us. First half they did out run and out work us. After addressing that at half-time, we came out second-half with a great attitude and they responded to what we had said to them. They got their just rewards.
“Dorking are doing well, they’re third in their league. We were playing against men and a couple of players who have played higher levels. When you play these kind of games you have to turn up – you have to stand up and be counted.”