AFC Wimbledon's boss praises U18s FA Youth Cup success (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Dons' U18s through to FA Youth Cup second round

3:00pm Friday 2nd November 2012 in Football

AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley was full of praise for the U18s after they beat Farnborough 2-0 to reach the second round of the FA Youth Cup.

Goals from Harlan Basker and Charlie Fayers on Tuesday night set up a clash with Cheltenham Town on November 17 (kick off 7pm).

Ardley said: "There were five or six players who you looked at and thought, ‘he could be a player’.

"That is what it is all about. A lot of positives could be taken from it. The way that they tried to pass the ball was excellent and hopefully it will be onwards and upwards in the next round.”

Academy manager Mark Robinson was less exuberant, saying: “I am not completely happy as I thought we made hard work of it.

"I wanted to see the boys pass it a bit better and when they did that, we looked good in spells.

"However, we were not clinical enough in the final third and because of that we got a bit desperate going for the second goal.

“It was the first game for nearly all of them though in the FA Youth Cup though and they were a little bit quiet.

"I would not say it lacked tempo, but we could have moved the ball better. We had the match recorded and will watch the video, highlighting the things we did right and what we need to do better."

He added: "Cheltenham will be tough, but hopefully with tonight out of the way the players will come out and relax and show what they can do.”