T’mead 3 Rams 1 – Ryman Youth Cup

The Under 18s visited Thamesmead Town in the Lucas Fettes sponsored Youth Cup for the second year running and, as last year, exited the competition at the hands of the Mead.

The home side kicked off and, with a slip in the Rams’ midfield, broke through and scored in about 30 seconds. The slope of the pitch was with the Mead, which they exploited well with their pacy forward line, however after a while the young Rams started to settle and stated playing the ball aound well to build up their attacks, rather than their hosts’ long ball approach. Mead extended their lead in the 27th minute when, after a freekick into the box found the head of Thamesmead’s centre-half was denied by a great save from Josh Mattless, the resulting corner was played short and then pinged to the far past where a free header found the back of the net.

In the 2nd half the Rams really took the game to Mead, and within 2 minutes of the restart Tom Chapman slotted the ball to George Stannard in the centre, who slotted home to get one back. The Rams continued to dominate and bombarded the Mead goal, but some great saves by the home ‘keeper and resolute defending (as well as the woodwork) kept the reds at bay. In the 69th minute a shot appeared to be stopped by the Mead ‘keeper when the ball was 2′ over the line, but the linesman waved play on even though the Rams players and supporters though the scores had been levelled. The Rams maintained their pressure seeking the equaliser, and the Mead defence’s challenges became a little more desperate keeping the status quo, but in the final minutes one of Mead’s rare breaks was rewarded with a further goal against the run of play to seal the win.

Rams: Josh Mattless, Chris Rigden, Nick Symaka (Taylor Day 81), Oli Frewin (c), Henry Piper, Jake Regan, Acer Newby (Alex Miles 85), Connor Armstrong (Ben Tite 78), Tom Chapman, George Stannard, Ryan Freedman.

Kickoff at Bayliss Avenue will be at 745pm, with extra-time and penalties if required.

The Under 18s are next in action at Southwood on Thursday 27th October, when they welcome Corinthian in the final qualifying round of the FA Youth Cup.