Mark Robinson praised Wimbledon’s young talents for maintaining the winning habit at Molesey last night after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory.
Rod McDonald and Adam Roscrow were the only outfield players over the age of 24 in last night’s squad and Robbo was pleased with the attitude shown by Wimbledon’s team in the Surrey Senior Cup at Walton Road. In particular, he was delighted with the performance of Under-18 full-back Huseyin Biler (pictured above after his goal at Hanworth Villa), who caught the eye on the left flank.
“I thought the approach from the boys was fantastic,” said Robbo. “Obviously, the pitch was really difficult and you are on a bit of a hiding to nothing because you are expected to win. Their approach, attitude, and work-rate, was everything that I had asked of them. We asked them to try and play when they could, even though the pitch was very difficult. They did all that and the only thing they didn’t do was put the ball in the back of the net. We had three really good chances early on and if you take one of those then everything becomes easier.
“These types of games are great for the young players. We had Rod McDonald out there and Adam Roscrow to regain their match fitness, but these competitions are ideal for the younger lads and I thought their attitude was excellent. They all did well, but I thought that Huseyin Biler was outstanding. He is a right-back who played as a left wing-back. He played for us at Bournemouth away on the left and he did very well on that day. In this game on a difficult surface his crossing with his left foot was good and also when he cut inside on his right foot. He was a constant threat and a real stand-out player on the night.
“No matter what competition you are in, you want to win it. You want to win in normal time and even though it has gone to penalties it’s really important to get that winning feeling. We won on penalties at Met Police and we did it here. The Under-23s have only lost one game this season and winning is a great habit.”
Take a look below at all the penalties from a dramatic night at Molesey with Wimbledon earning a 5-4 victory on spot-kicks. The Dons will visit South Park in the second round of the Surrey Senior Cup and we will update you when a date is arranged for this fixture.