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Wednesday 25 November 2009 Ryman Youth League, West Division
A very young AFC Wimbledon side took to the field at Walton & Hersham last night and came away with a very creditable draw. With 14 of the 16 man squad first years and with 8 changes to the starting 11 from last weeks FA Youth cup game it was a very inexperienced side that showed great potential playing some neat and tidy football on a difficult pitch.
AFC Wimbledon certainly dominated early on but could not find the killer touch around goal, Luke Gambin down the left was a constant threat regularly going past his marker and getting his crosses in. Juevan Spencer went close from a couple of headers provided by Gambin crosses and Sami Bakhit who showed up well also went close. On his return Jake Hill impressed bossing the Young Dons defence, whilst Harry Knock again showed his qualities from set play deliveries. Walton gradually came into the game and should have opened the scoring when a free kick was headed against the post and with the goal seemingly open a Walton forward managed to miss the rebound. The score though remained goalless at half time.
Half Time 0 - 0
The second half was more open and most of AFC's chances came from Harry Knock's deliveries at set pieces, but again the final touch was missing. Walton took the lead when a mis-understanding in the AFC defence saw a loose ball picked up by a forward who fired past Dadar in goal. AFC came straight back and again went close with a couple of efforts. Sami Bakhit took a knock to the head and was replaced by Ryan Thomas in the 67th minute whilst Juevan Spencer gave way to James Cottee at the same time. The equaliser arrived when Wilson Gondwe picked up the ball in the right back spot and went on a run taking him past three defenders before crossing for Luke Gambin to head the ball into the net for his fourth goal this season. AFC went with three up top in the last ten minutes as Harry Bearman was replaced by Meshach Smith in a last big effort. Both teams had their moments to win it with Joe Jackson stealing in at the back post but firing his volley over the bar. The game ended in a draw which was a fair result on the night.
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