The U18s won an exciting FA Youth Cup preliminary round match at home to Broadbridge Heath on 1 September 3-2.
Monday 1 September 2025: T&MU U18 3 Broadbridge Heath Bears 2 (FA Youth Cup, Preliminary Round)
Report by Dan Yankah
The U18 season officially kicked off with an early Preliminary Round tie against Broadbridge Heath Bears in the FA Youth Cup last Monday evening. The game provided much entertainment for the decent crowd (estimated around 150, with perhaps as many as 200 in the main stadium by the end) with the young Terrors running out 3-2 winners in dramatic fashion!
Tooting took the lead late in the first-half when Dantay Robinson ran free to coolly slot the ball past the opposing keeper. Tooting added a second early in the second period when Freddie Dove precisely despatched a free-kick from about twenty yards out.
The boys looked comfortably in control, but with fifteen minutes left, Broadbridge gave themselves a lifeline by pulling one back, and their concerted late pressure resulted in what looked like a heart-breaking equaliser in the 90th minute, leaving the game heading for the nerve-jangling tension of a penalty shoot-out. However, amazingly, that wasn’t the end of the scoring. A final push by our youngsters resulted in a corner which was swung in dangerously by Freddie Dove and (unfortunately for him) sliced into his own net by a visiting defender. Cue jubilant celebrations and mutiple knee-slides!
T&MU U18s: Jed Chapman, Miles James, Qudus Muraina, Jack Lasitter, Wassiem Ahmed, Max Kilby, Matias Bojanov, Alfred Dove, Axel Baldeon, Dantay Robinson, Daniel Gulley.
SUBS: Louie Kelley-Friend, Jacob Addison, Alfie Ryan, Colby Douglas, Shayon Sam, Oliver Mulkerrins.