AFC Wimbledon 0 AFC Wimbledon Youth 0 (AFC won 4-3 on penalties)
Surrey County Youth Cup - U15s Semi-Final - Sunday 26 March 2006
AFC Wimbledon Youth couldn't overcome AFC Wimbledon, their perennial rivals, in open play and then went out 4-3 on penalties. Defence was elevated to an art form in a fiercely competitive game played on a disappointingly small pitch conducive to a congested midfield. Neither side was able to achieve dominance for a sustained period, and genuine goal-scoring opportunities were at a premium with defences dominant and the midfield starved of space for creative play.
From the first, both sides struggled to find any rhythm, and the opening fifteen minutes play was littered with errors from both sides, players slipping over, losing possession, stray passes, and even players kicking air instead of the ball. The standard of creative play really was ploddingly dull, and most of the action was concerned with the battle for control of the midfield, in which Tee-Jay Ryan was very prominent for AFC Youth in making some outstanding tackles. The hosts threatened mainly down the flanks where both wide players used their pace to good effect, but anything delivered into the danger zone was dealt with very comfortably by the AFC Youth defence. The dangerous David Fayinor was shadowed so closely by Jack Malin that he never got sight of the goal, and likewise the AFC Youth danger man, Timi da Silva, was closely marked to equal effect. Troy Murray was having a good game working the front line, and following a corner he shot narrowly wide on the turn. On 35 minutes Timi da Silva was finally put through on goal, but was muscled off the ball by his marker as he moved into the AFC penalty area. The teams went in at half time with the score 0-0 after a largely sterile first half.
The second half continued in much the same fashion, although both sides managed to at least hit the woodwork with strong shots. Tee-Jay Ryan did get the ball in the net by shooting through a crowd of players, but goal did not stand because the referee had already blown the whistle, for what I do not know. Then AFC forced a corner, and the ball was headed on to the edge of the goal area, where David Fayinor reacted quicker than Jack Malin, and got in his only shot on target, that Nick Greaves did very well to tip over the bar. The play shuttled from one penalty area to the other without any real end product, until on 60 minutes the best chance of the game fell to Troy Murray when the home defence was eliminated by a fluent string of passes. The AFC Youth striker was put clean through on goal, and after making a hash of the one-on-one with the keeper, he managed to regain possession, and needing only to tap the ball into an empty net, delayed sufficiently for a AFC defender to get in a last-ditch saving tackle. Both sides then hit the woodwork as the game moved towards the end of normal time, but an evenly-contested 80 minutes ended goalless.
Neither side could manage a breakthrough in an equally, evenly-matched extra time, and the finalists to meet Sutton United were decided by a penalty shoot out. Both of the AFC Youth strikers missed their spot kicks, and so AFC went through on penalties for their second cup final. It's a bad way to lose a cup-tie, but at the same time it's the best way to lose because you can always say that you weren't beaten in open play. Nevertheless, the disappointing outcome of the penalty shoot-out serves only to highlight that the opposition are superior in the technical ability required to score goals.
There were a number of good performances from AFC Youth. Sonny Russell and Tee-Jay Ryan had excellent games, and Jack Malin may not be the most skilful of centre-backs, but he had more than enough strength and speed to eliminate the threat of goal-machine David Fayinor, who was reduced to a single shot on target. Man-of-the-match, however, goes to James Snishko, the best centre-back in the league, who had a great game in the AFC Youth defence, making a large number of timely interceptions and tackles all across the back line.
Reporter's man of the match: James Snishko
Team: Nick Greaves; Scott Fullerton, Jack Malin, James Snishko, Charlie Dennis; Sam King, Sonny Russell, Tee-Jay Ryan, Luke Ewing; Timi da Silva, Troy Murray. Sub: William Taylor, Matthew O'Brien, Paul Nicholls, Sahil Patel.