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AFC Wallingford went out of the North Berks Cup to Division 1 rivals Didcot Casuals yesterday.

The Wallingford side which contained no less than six 16 year olds went down 3-0 to the Casuals who deserved to win the game but failed to create many chances against Wallingford’s young side.

With Jordan Brown and Ben Jennings (rested), Gareth Sanashee (ill), Ross Baker (operation), Ben Chadbone (ineligible) and Tom Collins and Jordan Lee-Brown away at Lilleshall all weekend at the English Colleges National Squad training camp Wallingford used the game as opportunity to “blood” some youngsters and try out a few new things on the pitch.

Defensive rock Amos was given the chance to use his pace and power upfront alongside debutant 16 year old Karlton Lee. Craig Duncan was tried out at centre half with Butcher moving out to right back. Also playing a different formation, Wally gave 16 year olds Komal Llewelyn-Reid and Omar Mohamed their home debuts. Wallingford were also able to get Tristan Campbell back involved after 3 weeks on the sideline and Henry Craven who has had nearly 2 months out.

On a soggy pitch neither side looked to get the ball down and pass it in the first half. Bovingdon pushed a corner over the bar when heading in on 7 minutes and 5 minutes later Didcot’s keeper pushed a Ben Gladwin effort over the bar. Both sides looked to try and get the first goal but Wallingfords young side found it hard to create a real chance. Their best chance came when Tristan Lewis crossed from deep and Omar Mohamed headed wide when unmarked 10 yards out. On 23 minutes Gladwin fired narrowly wide from long range but Didcot were to have the best of the last 20 minutes of the first half. On 24 minutes a Casuals corner was headed wide and on 26 minutes a poor pass from young Bradley Grant allowed Casuals midfielder to nip in and deliver a cross which was not dealt with properly and Fletcher Hoey headed over Bovingdon in the Walingford goal. Only three minutes later it was 2-0. Sloppy play again lost possession and allowed Casuals to break. The cross was inch perfect and was headed home back across goal. Wallingford pressed for a route back into the game and despite Lewis being booked for an “off the ball” incident Wally could not create any real chances.

Casuals started the second half brightly and killed the game off on 53 minutes when again possession was given away poorly in midfield and Didcot broke and was finished well from the edge of the area. This seemed to have a settling effect on the Wallingford side who now began to keep possession well and on 60 minutes a Butcher cross was defended well but nothing came from the resulting corner. 70 minutes saw Henry Craven replace Bovingdon in goal after a long lay-off through injury and Tarome Hemmings replace Grant. On 71 minutes another Butcher delivery was headed clear and Gladwins effort was deflected into the keeper’s arms. On 85 minutes Amos headed a Lewis corner wide and on 89 Gladwins delivery was perfect but Butchers header was blocked and land easily for the Keeper. Craven pulled off a magnificent double save late on and the game finished 3-0.

Lewis said afterwards “I am really pleased with today, obviously the result could have been better but I don’t believe there are many sides at this level that even have six 16 year olds in their squad let alone playing in a first team fixture. Each one of them did themselves proud and worked really hard today and we fully expected that some errors could cost us a result but it is important for their development to play in games like this. We have said all along that the league is our main focus and we are confident we can still achieve our targets this season”

Wallingford face Hellenic Division 1 East table-toppers Wokingham & Emmbrook in the Berks & Bucks Intermediate cup next week and should be back to full strength to test themselves against higher level opposition.