The magic of the cup sparkled over Plough Lane on Saturday, with plenty of goals to send our fans home happy and us into this afternoon’s second round draw.
James Tilley netted twice, as we dispatched League One Cheltenham Town 5-1. Ali Al-Hamadi and Josh Davison hit the goal scoring trail again too, but goal of the day went to Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and there was even time for a pro debut for Academy scholar Kai Jennings at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
Connor, who added to his portfolio of great strikes for the Dons with our fifth, said: “To be fair, I missed a sitter earlier on! I just came inside and felt comfortable on my right foot and I’ve hit it and thankfully it went into the top corner.
“It’s a brilliant result and I think it’s been coming, to be honest. The last couple of weeks we’ve been putting in a good 45 minutes. I thought Accy second half was a good 45 minutes from us and the majority of Morecambe was a good performance - except for 25 minutes. I think it’s more pleasing that we’ve managed to put 90 minutes together.
“It’s good for us and not just ‘Tills’ to have him scoring goals again. He’s vital to what we do and gets lots of goals, lots of assists and hopefully he can go and get a couple more now in the next couple of weeks.
“For everyone who got a goal today, it’s always good to score and gives that bit of confidence. Ali is a goal scorer and it’s the same with ‘JD’. We’re glad to see the boys put the ball in the back of the net because when they get the chance again now - they’re going to do the same thing.”
For Academy under-18s captain and scholar Kai Jennings, it had been a week that he’ll never forget.
On Tuesday, he led the Dons through to the round two of the FA Youth Cup, and manager Johnnie Jackson felt that he earned his first team debut in the closing stages of yesterday’s tie.
“It’s amazing,” said Kai. “It’s what every kid growing up who wants to be a footballer wants to achieve. To have both games at Plough Lane, in front of the fans, was great.
“I’ve been with the club from an early age and grown up here, so it’s a dream come true. I think Mum and Dad were here to see it and my Grandad works here - so he was probably here too!
“The first team squad always make me feel welcome. It’s been easy to come in as these lads make me feel part of the team. Even out there afterwards they all congratulated me. It was a positive experience.”
First team coach Rob Tuvey initially worked with Kai in our under-7s age group, along with former Academy coach Joe Roberts.
“His story is similar to that of Morgan Williams,” said a delighted Joe, who is now under-16s Lead Coach at Swansea City.
“He’s a great kid from a great family. They lived opposite me in Southfields. He came on holiday courses at Wimbledon Park, when me and Rob were doing them. He looked good and we got him into pre-academy and the rest is history!
“I first had Kai at under-8s/9s level, then I worked with him until under-12s. I used to bore the office telling them all how good he was on a Sunday and telling them how good he could be! I’m absolutely over the moon for him and his family, I’ve waited a while for this day to come!”
Match photography by Ian Stephen (Pro Sports Images).