Colliers Wood United 1 AFC Wimbledon Youth 6
Surrey Youth Cup - Round 4 - Sunday 15 January 2006
AFC progressed to the quarter finals of the Surrey Cup after eventually proving far too strong for Colliers Wood United at The Wibbandune. Although Colliers Wood proved no pushovers, AFC choose to take the opportunity to field a different team every 20 minutes by rotating personnel via substitutions and resting key players.
The opening exchanges saw AFC dominate possession without creating a real clear-cut scoring opportunity. Nevertheless, AFC's first goal came on 11 minutes when Paul Nicholls headed home a corner from Charlie Dennis. The hosts rarely entered the AFC final third, and the visitors continued to run the show, but their attacks lacked penetration as the opposition defended resolutely and in large numbers. Sonny Russell was introduced on 20 minutes and made an immediate impact with some powerful runs from midfield. However, the second AFC goal did not arrive until 32 minutes when Luke Ewing lobbed the keeper after running onto an impressive 60 yard clearance from Sam King. Two minutes later it was 3-0 when Luke Ewing finished off a fluent passing move involving five or six players. It was nearly four when James Snishko headed a corner against the inside of the post, before Colliers Wood managed to clear their lines. The rest of the half passed without incident.
Shortly after half-time, AFC conceded a goal after giving away a needless free-kick for a push out on the left wing. A powerful 20-yard free-kick was dispatched towards the top right hand corner of the goal, and although Nick Greaves appeared to have made a great save, he slipped on landing and the ball ended up in the net. This seemed to inspire the hosts, and after introducing a couple of speedy forwards, they dominated the proceedings for the next ten or fifteen minutes. Time and time again, Sam King, Jack Malin and/or James Snishko had to run down and regain possession from some strong-running forwards. A couple of long-range shots cleared the AFC bar with inches to spare, and a number of corners were forced that were dealt with fairly comfortably. On 60 minutes the re-introduction of Sonny Russell and Timi da Silva quickly put the hosts on the back foot, and within four minutes Timi da Silva combined with Sam King and Paul Nicholls to dribble clean through and put the result beyond all doubt. Two minutes later Timi da Silva went on another long and mazy dribble through the home defence, and although the keeper kept out his shot, Troy Murray followed up quickly to stroke the ball into the corner of the net. Colliers Wood then retaliated with a very rapid counterattack that sent a pacy forward clear and bearing down on Nick Greaves, but at the critical moment Jack Malin steamed in on him to get in a great saving tackle. Sonny Russell then hit the inside of the post with a spectacular strike from outside the box. This was followed by Jack Malin going off on a powerful run into the opposing penalty area, after taking a return pass from Charlie Dennis, but the Colliers Wood keeper kept out his shot. The sixth and final AFC goal came on 77 minutes when man-of-the-match Timi da Silva converted a great cross from Sam King in spectacular fashion.
AFC now face Woking Town at Deckers in the quarter finals on Sunday 19th February.
Reporter's man of the match: Timi da Silva
Team: Sahil Patel; Matthew O'Brien, James Snishko, Jack Malin, Charlie Dennis; Sam King, Matthew Braben, Tee-Jay Ryan, Paul Nicholls; Luke Ewing, William Taylor. Sub: Timi da Silva, Troy Murray, Nick Greaves, Scott Fullerton, Sonny Russell.