Simon Clark was delighted with the reaction of his Under-18s following last week’s disappointment, as they set up some potentially big dates for the new year.
Paris Lock, who scored the winner against Burnley last year, came up with the goods again as the young Dons edged out their opponents by a single goal to reach next month’s fourth round of the FA Youth Cup.
They’ve also got an eye on catching leaders Luton in the Youth Alliance South East, after recovering from the disappointment of exiting the League Cup on penalties to Oxford United.
“That’s what we wanted at Christmas,” said Simon. “We wanted to go into the Christmas break in that fourth round in January.
“We’re delighted to get through and that’s the main thing. We’ve had a debrief on where and how we need to improve and I think the lads understand that, but it’s a one-off game and we’ve kept a clean sheet.”
Before possibly landing a big tie in the next round, the focus now turns to closing the gap in the league with our young Dons nine points off the top spot but with two games in hand.
“We’re second in the league, we want to keep on Luton’s heels. They’ve been very dominant, and we don’t want to let that gap increase. We play them in the new year and that will be a massive game for us. It’s another big one, so we’re really looking forward to that.”
You can see Simon Clark’s full post-match analysis below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.
Attacking midfielder Morgan Williams also spoke, after again catching the eye with his display in the victory over Leyton Orient.
“We’re not used to losing as a team,” said Welsh under-19s international Morgan. “I think we’ve got a good mentality and good things are building.
“The defeat to Oxford was something we hadn’t had in a while, it was a shame, but we had to bounce back knowing we had this game the week after. I think we did well to put that defeat in the past and refocus and move on to this victory.
“Paris Lock is always in the right areas. We made chances happen and we moved the ball well at times. We had three or four clear-cut opportunities we could have capitalised on, but we scored the one goal in the game, and it was good that it was Paris in the right moment and the right time and with a good finish.
“We’re very fluid. We can all adapt and play different roles with different responsibilities. We can be a very attacking, very dangerous side at times.”