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YOUTH REPORT: Barnet 2 – 3 AFC Wimbledon

Come on you Bees!

Please head down to The Hive on Saturday for a 10am kick-off to support the boys.

The Youth Team are at home again this Saturday vs. Stevenage in what completes a full U16/U18/1st Team day of games against our local neighbours.

"Once we start converting these, I am confident that the group will push on and start showing the other teams in the league how much quality we have"

"The group were disappointed at the end but the positives to come from the game are that we scored two goals and created numerous other chances.

"Despite being 3-2 behind, we had four clear-cut opportunities to score and you simply can’t miss those chances at this level".

"Our goalkeeper hasn’t made another save all game, but we have to start taking our chances if we want to win games of football.

"We made a couple of individual errors in the second half and it has cost us.

"We didn’t do that and allowed a very organised AFC Wimbledon to work their way back in to the game, which lead to the equalizer in the first half"

"That said, we controlled the early parts of the game and really should have pushed on after the goal.

"It wasn’t the best game in the world and both teams were in with a chance of winning it.

Speaking after the game, Youth Team coach Dean Selvey expressed his frustration at being unable to take the chances that the Bees created:

As a result the score finished 3-2 to AFC Wimbledon.

The final 10 minutes was a familiar story for the young Bees team – they had all the ball and plenty of chances, but failures to convert clear scoring opportunities.

Despite Wimbledon’s complaints, the referee pointed to the spot and the penalty was slotted home by Nana Kyei for his second league goal of the season.

Emmanuel Bowens, on for just six minutes, broke through the AFC Wimbledon line and was brought down right on the edge of the box.

An earlier double substitution had an almost immediate impact just 3 minutes later when Barnet were awarded a controversial penalty.

The ball was worked wide and a glancing header found the top corner of the net from the resulting cross – the Bees were 3-1 down with 17 minutes remaining.

 With those chances gone, AFC turned the screw again and broke with a long ball that was not dealt with.

Now pushing for an equalizer, Barnet had good chances through McCarthy and Taylor, who hit the post with a thumping left foot strike from outside the box.

After a sharp turn it was cooly dispatched in to the bottom corner to give AFC Wimbledon the lead.

With two minutes of the half gone, a long ball by the AFC Wimbledon back four was misjudged by the Bees defence

The second half started at a frenetic pace with both teams on the offensive.

This was cooly dispatched by the Wimbledon’s Number 9, and the teams went in at half-time all square at 1-1.

With Barnet players committed to an attack which broke down, AFC released their left wing-back who burst in to the 18-yard box – only to be brought down by a recovering Bees defender. Penalty!

The next 20 minutes was scrappy with neither team really controlling the game and it was AFC Wimbledon who struck next to equalise.

A quick switch of play released left full-back Hakeem Odoffin, whose cross-cum-shot was only parried in to the path of the on-rushing Daniel Cheema, who slammed the ball in to the net.

This dominance was rewarded on 15 minutes when the Bees deservedly took the lead.

Setting up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, the Bees started strongly and dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes – midfielders Jack Taylor, Theo Alexis and Nana Kyei combining well in central areas.

It was another narrow defeat for the Barnet U18’s at the weekend as they slipped to a 2-3 home defeat to AFC Wimbledon.