Wednesday evening saw the return of the FA Youth Cup, with Dartford FC U18’s taking on Cray Wanderers U18’s here at Princes Park
Dartford started well within the first ten minutes of the match, putting Cray Wanderers on the back foot early on. This resulted in Lewis Odds finding the top corner after 9 minutes. Dartford continued to apply pressure, with Eli Graham having two shots on target denied by the Cray keeper.
The team continued to work hard and got their rewards when Lewis Odds moved into space and crossed into the box which resulted in a Cray player handling the ball. The ref signalled for a penalty, which Dartford’s Ben Francis slotted easily into the bottom right hand corner.
As half time approached, a long ball from Dajon Golding was met by Eli Graham who got to the ball just before the Cray keeper and shot the ball into an empty net.
HALF TIME: Dartford FC U18’s 3 – Cray Wanderers FC U18’s 0
During half time, the Dartford management team spoke to the players about how to improve their chances further in the second half, and the players returned to the pitch to score two goals within six minutes, both by Dartford’s Darius Izukanne.
After a tackle by Kieran Trussell to the Cray Wanderers right back, which resulted in a red card for Kieran, saw a moment in the match which Dartford would much rather forget. Dartford were then reduced to ten men for the remaining 35 minutes of play.
However, this didn’t stop the young Darts from playing some great football and working well with one another to go forward and produce more goals. Dartford went on to score a further four goals in the final 30 minutes of play, with Dajon Golding firing two home, closely followed by Eli Graham adding another to his score tally and finally Dartford sub Bradwin Kobi scoring the ninth and final goal of the match.
Overall the match was a huge success for the boys, with some great football played and a clean sheet kept at the start of their journey in the FA Youth Cup.
FULL TIME: Dartford FC U18’s 9 – Cray Wanderers FC U18’s 0
Academy Manager Deren Ibrahim said: ‘The FA Youth Cup is always an exciting game to be involved in for both players and management alike. We started the match at a very high tempo, however towards the end of the first half we tried forcing things and this made the match sloppy. I thought the second half was excellent. We moved the ball quickly and there were lots of 1 on 1 challenges all over the pitch. It’s nice to get off to a winning start and we’re looking forward to the next round.’
Dartford FC U18’s Team: Nathan Burgess (GK), Tobi Ola, Kieran Monk, Kieran Trussell, Darius Ikuzanne, Emmanuel Quinoo, Dajon Golding, Richard Seixas, Ben Francis, Lewis Odds, Eli Graham
Subs: Levi Maxim, Kejuan Fraser, Bradwin Kobi, Guylepsy Menga, Romario Martin-Miles
Cray Wanderers FC U18’s Team: NOT SUPPLIED
Attendance: 128
Match Report written by Dartford FC Youth Team