Corinthian-Casuals manager James Bracken has heaped praise on AFC Wimbledon loanee Jack Rudoni, after witnessing him put in a man of the match performance in his side's 0-0 draw at home to Dorking Wanderers - writes Joshua Doherty.

The 17-year-old Dons' loanee arrived last week and was put straight into the first team on Saturday, and played a large part in helping the Casuals rise to 17th in the table, and move five points clear of the bottom three.

Despite hitting the post in the second-half the visitors ,who came into the match with a 13 point lead at the top of the table, were largely matched by their opponents throughout the game.

They could have also fallen behind but for good saves from Slavomir Huk to deny long-distance shots from Hamilton Antonio and Hakeem Adelakun in the second half, but in the end few would argue a draw wasn't a fair result.

Speaking after the match, James Bracken explained that he was pleased with his side's performance, reserving special praise for Rudoni.

“It was a great result today, and I think anyone in the bottom half would take a point against Dorking. It was a positive result considering how many points clear they are at the top, so we have to be happy with that,” Bracken explained.

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He added: “We are of course fighting to get the wins we need, but this is one of those games where you see a clean sheet against them ,no soft goals and no individual errors, and be pleased with our day's work.

“Jack [Rudoni] was great as well, he deserved man of the match. I only introduced him to the boys on Thursday, and in my opinion he will play, at the minimum, League 1 level in the future. I think he is that good. He doesn't make poor decisions, and for a 17 year old to get through 90 minutes like that in a game against a team top of the league, and actually influence the game was fantastic. It is nice for him as well as it means he will get the respect from the rest of the players. Sometimes when you bring a 17 year old in from nowhere, some players may think ' why is he bringing in a kid at this stage?', but for him to go out there and do what he did, he now knows he has the confidence from the other players as well, not just myself.”

With the Tolworth-based club strictly amateur, meaning they can't pay their players, recruitment for the club has been difficult. Bracken added that he hopes having Rudoni at the club will send a good message to AFC Wimbledon, but also urged more players from professional clubs to come to the club to get first team football.

Bracken continued: “Wimbledon are happy with the move, and this is good from our part as we are happy to do right by the player to get him men's experience, it will be great for his development to get out and play 90 minutes. He will learn far more playing in these last seven or so games for us than he will playing youth football, so it is fantastic for him, great for Wimbledon, and hopefully it is a relationship we can nurture . If we do right by Rudi, and they can see he's in a good environment, hopefully this will open up some doors in the future.

“Other pro-clubs should be open-minded to this, we can't pay wages, but we can provide them a platform to continue their development in what I would feel is the right environment for a young player to develop.”

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The game was slightly marred however by a serious injury suffered by Max Oldham, who appeared to break his collarbone and fracture his jaw in a first half collision, having only recently returned from a head injury which kept him out for the last two months.

Backroom staff are raising money to support the Max during recovery, details of which can be found here:htps://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mend-max?utm_id=60&utm_term=bZPq6gnrR