AFC Wimbledon Youth 3 AFC Wimbledon 0
West Surrey Premier Elite - Sunday 29 January 2006
The reigning league champions entertained the league leaders, AFC Wimbledon, with a full compliment apart from Luke Ewing and William Taylor who were absent with flu. The first half belonged to the hosts with Paul Nicholls, Timi da Silva and Sonny Russell displaying their skills to the full, and Charlie Dennis, Tee-Jay Ryan, James Snishko and Jack Malin looking on top form. The hosts dominated the first half-hour with their quick passing and movement, and the runs of Paul Nicholls and Timi da Silva down the flanks had the visiting defence under pressure on numerous occasions. AFC Youth took the lead as early the 7th minute when Charlie Dennis sent over a beautiful cross from the left, and Sonny Russell thundering in, met it with an unstoppable glancing header that flashed into the net. On 13 minutes Robert Marsden pulled off an excellent save from Sonny Russell to keep the visitors in the game. Paul Nicholls on the left wing continued to impress with his runs down the flank, and several dangerous crosses were delivered into the box, but the finishing touch was not forthcoming. After 20 minutes the visitors missed a great chance to equalise when Nick Greaves did well to punch out a very dangerous cross, and the ball landed at the feet of a forward who blazed over from the edge of the box. There followed a number of mazy runs from Timi da Silva, and on 25 minutes he zig-zagged down the right to test Robert Marsden with a fierce angled shot. Soon after the game was stopped for a few minutes while the referee calmed down a home defence incensed by an off-the-ball incident involving David Fayinor and Jack Malin. The visitors then put the hosts under pressure for the remainder of the half, often as a result of AFC Youth being caught in possession when moving up the flanks. In one such incident, Sam King lost the ball on the right, and was then left trailing in the wake of the pacy David Fayinor, who released another forward into the box, but Jack Malin sprinted across the penalty area to put in a last-ditch saving tackle.
The second half opened with the exchanges looking fairly even, but by and large AFC failed to make much impact on a very strong AFC Youth defence. However, the visitors did force a number of corners, and later on a number of shots from distance whizzed past the woodwork. As the game wore on AFC Youth were playing much the better and their football was increasing in speed and effectiveness. Timi da Silva, Paul Nicholls and Sonny Russell continued to make their presence felt, and Troy Murray worked the front line very hard with some great hold-up play. Timi da Silva was bundled over with a clumsy challenge that earned a yellow, and then on 65 minutes a fluent passing move opened up the AFC defence. Troy Murray collected a pass with a great first touch, and then showed good footwork to play in Timi da Silva who wrong-footed the keeper to make no mistake from close range. It should have been three a few minutes later when Sonny Russell crossed low and hard from the right wing, but somehow Paul Nicholls failed to get the ball anywhere near the target from only six yards out. AFC then received another yellow for delaying the restart of play after Timi da Silva was brought down during another slalom from the half-way line. The talented David Fayinor was becoming increasingly frustrated with the close marking and ultimately lost the plot when he fouled Jack Malin and Charlie Dennis in quick succession, and then immediately kicked James Snishko off the ball. The AFC striker went into the book for this offence, but he can count himself very lucky it wasn't a red card. Five minutes from time, Sonny Russell, some 25 yards from goal on the right touchline, capped a great individual performance by hitting the ball with such power that it disappeared into the top corner of the net and stuck in the frame of the goal. This sealed the points and with the news that Aldershot won 3-0 at Hayes to go top of the league, the league championship is now wide open with AFC and AFC Youth second and third respectively.
AFC put in a lacklustre display, but nevertheless it was a highly impressive performance by AFC Youth with Tee-Jay Ryan and Sonny Russell dominating the midfield, and Paul Nicholls and Timi da Silva having outstanding games in attack. Ironically, the AFC defence recorded its first clean sheet in the league this season against the highest scoring team. The defence did look very solid, and it was marshalled superbly by James Snishko, with Sam King and Charlie Dennis in excellent form. The league and AFC's top scorer, David Fayinor, was marked completely out of the game by the equally quick and powerful Jack Malin, who finished the match sporting a black eye. This was a good game of football, well refereed by Mark Williams, and played in a good spirit apart from the two unsavoury incidents mentioned above. Next week the two sides meet again in a League Cup Semi Final at Merstham FC.
Reporter's man of the match: Jack Malin
Team: Nick Greaves; Sam King, Jack Malin, James Snishko, Charlie Dennis; Matthew O'Brien, Sonny Russell, Tee-Jay Ryan, Paul Nicholls; Timi da Silva, Troy Murray. Sub: Scott Fullerton, Sahil Patel, Matthew Braben.