The Dons salvaged a point with a late equaliser in additional time of Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Stevenage in the Youth Alliance League.
AFC Wimbledon’s Under-18s approached the latest league fixture against Stevenage in scintillating form, claiming three wins from our last three matches. On the back of a trio of league victories against Northampton, Brentford and Gillingham respectively, confidence was high, and the Dons were looking to make it a fourth on the bounce with the league title looking more and more achievable.
Although not able to find all three points this time, the Dons salvaged a draw with an equalising goal from captain Leo Young in additional time. The goal came as a result of a dominant performance from our side which, on another day, could have seen us walk away with our fourth successive victory.
Max Foulkes started in-between the sticks, with a back four of Mathias Tepe, Riley Horan, Ollie Downs and captain Young ahead of him. Harry Sidwell and Kai Jennings played just behind Harry Hedges, and the front three consisted of Kelvin Kargbo, Junior Nkeng and Kai Mackenzie.
The first chance of the game for either team came via a free-kick from wide. Jennings, from the right side of the pitch, floated the ball towards the back post where it was met by Horan who had timed his run to perfection, but could only steer his header narrowly wide of the post.
A free-kick in a similar position was taken again by Jennings soon after, this time providing a goal mouth scramble. The Dons had multiple stabs at the ball from close range yet somehow it stayed out of the visitors’ net.
Despite Wimbledon enjoying the lion’s share of possession throughout the half, Stevenage found the opening goal a few minutes before half time. A corner was met well by their number nine at the front post who headed in from close range to put the visitors 1-0 up.
Manager Simon Clark made a double substitution at half time, calling on Justin Clarke and Tom Wilson to replace Nkeng and Mackenzie in the front line as we strived to find an equaliser.
Foulkes was called into early action after the restart, getting down quickly to parry away a strike from long range, keeping the deficit to only one. Following this, very little changed from the first 45 minutes as the Dons continued to dominate the ball in the sustained search for an equaliser.
Hugo Few and Connor Harris were next to be called upon from the bench, they entered in place of the tiring legs of Jennings and Hedges. Few had an immediate impact on the game, being set up for an overhead kick, much like the worldie he managed to score earlier in the season, this time though it landed narrowly wide of the visitors’ goal.
Fellow substitute Clarke showcased a moment of individual brilliance, skipping past his opposing fullback on the by-line before driving into the box and striking against the post from a tight angle. Harris met the rebound on the edge of the box but could only direct it wide.
Nine minutes of additional time allowed the Dons to strike late, through our captain Young. A corner provided the breakthrough - whipped in by Sidwell and met by the skipper to bundle home and draw the boys in blue and yellow level.
A late flurry forwards did see the visitors manage to strike Foulkes’ right post before the full-time whistle was blown, marking a point earned by each team and our unbeaten run extended to four successively.