Brantham Atletic 1-8 Cambridge United
Cambridge United’s Under 18’s begun the 2013/14 campaign in The FA Youth Cup with a comfortable victory at Brantham Athletic on Monday evening in the Preliminary Qualifying Round.
United opened the scoring in the third minute, a James Akintunde cross from the left hand side was met by Jack North who’s tap in was blocked by the goal keeper only to bounce to the head on North to nod home. The scholars early dominance was rewarded with a second goal on seven minutes, a Matt Lowe effort from just outside the penalty box nestled into the near corner beating the diving keeper to his right hand side.
Brantham capitalised on some lacklustre defending midway through the half with their first attempt. A misunderstanding between defenders Coy and Pring allowed KJ to burst through with keeper Josh Banthorpe and slot home to halve the deficit. It was against the run of play and sharpened the visitors up again looking to further extend their lead as they continued to dominate.
George Doyle added the third in the 36th minute, a powerful drive from 20 yards into the corner was an excellent strike and deserved for the U’s. United added their fourth on half time, Akintunde again causing problems for the right back, his pull back being put into his own net by the centre back.
Cambridge continued to push on from the start of the second period and netted a fifth and sixth in quick succession. Both goals were scored by Akintunde, the first a tap in after the keeper spilled Doyles cross. The second came after a well time through ball found Akintunde to finish across the keeper into the far right hand corner.
Rob Pratt replaced George Coy, who had played an hour, his first football since returning from injury in April and Pratt added the seventh with an excellent strike from 25 yards after he had carried the ball away from the hosts midfield.
There was still time for Jack Cook to get on the score sheet with a close range header just before the whistle, to seal a fine victory and earn United an away tie to Needham Market in a fortnight in the 1st Qualifying Round.
Youth Team Coach Mark Bonner said: “It was a job well done. The most important thing was the result. The boys applied themselves well and dominated the game from start to finish, it was a performance which showed some good elements of our play and again highlighted some areas where we can look to improve. We look forward to the next round where we know Needham will be a test for us and that it will be a game we will need to be suitably prepared for.”
Team: Banthorpe, Coy (Pratt 65), Pring, Heath, Burns, Horne (Joynes 45), Lowe, Akintunde (Scott 60), North, Doyle, Cook. Not Used: Mcnulty