AFC Wimbledon Under-18s turned on the style to brush aside Brentford in their fifth league game of the season.
A brace from Ed Leach, one from Ryley Horan and the pick of the bunch courtesy of Hugo Few, supplied Wimbledon's goals for an impressive 4-1 win at our training ground.
The Dons lined up with Ethan McGrath in goal and Mathias Tepe, Riley Horan, Leo Young and Sean Sankanu as the backline. The midfield consisted of Kai Jennings, Hugo Few and captain Harry Sidwell. Tom Wilson, Junior Nkeng and Ed Leach made up the front three.
The Dons had the first chance of the game as a cross was fizzed through the box, finding Wilson who could only stab it at the Brentford keeper for a simple save.
Sustained ball possession resulted in chances being created and corners awarded. A corner taken short allowed Wilson to strike the ball, forcing a save and a resulting rebound that fell kindly to Horan who lashed home and opened the scoring to put the Dons 1-0 up.
Shortly after, Leach was threaded through on goal before rattling the post as Wimbledon edged closer to doubling their lead.
The second goal came in emphatic fashion; a clipped cross into the box was met by the chest of Few, controlling sublimely before setting himself up for an overhead kick. The strike looped over the opposing keeper and provided a delightful second to the scoreline.
The winning margin of 2-0 was short-lived though as Leach put a third on the board as he struck with power after finding space on the edge of the box. The ball clipped off the crossbar and nestled in the Bees’ net.
This time though, Brentford responded after capitalising on a blunder at the back. A misplaced pass saw the forward presented with an empty net as he was able to claw a goal back just before half-time.
The Dons started the second-half well with strikes from Jennings and Sidwell both narrowly missing the target before Leach collected the ball on the right flank, drove infield and shifted the ball onto his left boot for him to finish accurately. Leach had his second and Wimbledon had their fourth.
The remainder of the game proved uneventful but substitute appearances for Kelvin Kargbo, Jake Lawrence, Connor Harris, and Bailey Cotton all helped respectively for us to retain a three-goal lead and finish the match well.
A dominant performance, decorated with some fantastically executed goals saw the Dons deservedly claim all three points.