A young AFC Wimbledon side exited the London Senior Cup at the second round stage tonight with Hendon emerging as 3-2 winners.
An end to end game included Paul Osew and Quaine Bartley getting on the scoresheet, but their exploits proved to be in vain as a Dave Diedhiou brace and a Frank Keita finish earned the Southern League Premier South side a home tie against Brentford B.
Despite the result, the game offered a number of our first-team players a chance to gain some much needed minutes, whilst some of our younger Academy talents also featured.
Rob Tuvey named an experienced starting 11, with Isaac Ogundere captaining a side that also included Osew, Luke Jenkins, Kwaku Frimpong, Bartley, Marcel Campbell and Dylan Adjei-Hersey.
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, we were quickly into our stride early on, with Bartley seeing a shot blocked before Osew forced Halfed Al-Droubi into a save from distance.
However, it was the hosts who took the lead as Diedhiou fired home from outside the area following a miscued clearance.
After a scrappy first-half the Dons upped their game at the start of the second with Osew poking home a close range equaliser barely minutes after the restart.
Our number 37 then got in behind again, but his low cut-back couldn’t be converted by either Campbell or Bartley.
Despite our fast start after the break, it was Hendon who came roaring back with Keita scoring after being threaded through. Liam Brooks then fired wide as the home side refused to rest on their laurels.
Nevertheless, Bartley did get in on the act when we broke again, with our young striker finding the far corner accurately to level the scores once more.
Alas, it was Diedhiou who would have the last laugh, the full-back heading home his second following a floated cross. It was a goal that proved to be decisive as our London Senior Cup journey came to an end.
AFC Wimbledon: Max Foulkes, Sean Sankanu, Luke Jenkins, Paul Osew, Kwaku Frimpong, Isaac Ogundere, Oliver Downs (Edward Leach), Quaine Bartley, Marcel Campbell (Jake Lawrence), Connor Harris, Dylan Adjei-Hersey (Junior Nkeng).
PICs: Derek Beech