Swindon Town U18s continued their impressive form in the FA Youth Cup by progressing to the quarter-finals, with a 2-1 away victory to Sunderland U18s on Friday evening.
Swindon got off to the perfect start in the game, with George Alston scoring with less than a minute played before Botan Ameen continued his good form in the FA Youth Cup by scoring Town's second five minutes later.
Sunderland's Trey Ogunsuyi halved the deficit for the home side on the 30-minute mark, but Swindon fought back and defended well to see out the advantage at the break.
Town held out for the remaining 45 minutes, as they overcame their second Premier League 2 opponents in as many rounds, having defeated 11-time winners Manchester United back in the fourth round.
It was a fantastic opening to the game for Swindon, with the youngsters picking up where they left off in the previous round against Manchester United, by taking the game to the Premier League 2 side and finding themselves two goals to the good very quickly in the game.
George Alston opened the scoring to initially stun the hosts, with a neat interchange with Botan Ameen creating an opening to allow the wide man to smash home into the Sunderland near post.
Five minutes later, the roles were reversed as Ameen went from provider to scorer.
Alston provided a dangerous cross to allow Ameen to poke home at the second attempt in just the sixth minute after an initial close-range save from Sunderland's Matty Young.
Swindon looked to be the team in the ascendency after these two goals. Still, they could not capitalise further with Sunderland creating a route for themselves to get back into the game, with a well-taken finish from Trey Ogunsuyi providing a cagey final 15 minutes for Swindon's U18s.
However, Town's youngsters held firm and reacted to the pressure to see out the goal's advantage as they looked to build on their initial strong showing in the first half to see them through to the next round.
Half-time: Sunderland U18s 1 Swindon Town U18s 2
It was Sunderland who came out with the stronger attacking threat in the second half, with Redman Evans called into action twice in quick succession 55 minutes in, to deny Sunderland from getting back into the game.
The game began to become a bit more scrappy and tough tackling between the two sides, with a place in the next round up for grabs, but Swindon created the next best chance in the 72nd minute, with recent Town sub, Miles Obodo arrowing wide from 25 yards.
George Alston was next to try his luck to extend Town's advantage but his effort from the edge of the Sunderland box was unfortunately over the bar.
A great late chance came for the home side in the 87th minute when Ben Creamer met recent substitute Joseph Neild's cross at the far post, but his effort from close range was thankfully over the bar and Swindon survived the Sunderland chance.
After another impressive victory in the FA Youth Cup, Town now look to find out who they will face in the next round, with either Burnley or Bristol City away up next for Town's U18s at the quarter-final stage.
Sunderland A.F.C. U18s: Young, Lavery, Je.Jones (Neild 84), Ja.Jones, Bell (C), Beattie, Creamer, Rigg, Ogunsuyi, Whittaker (Mitchell 70), Watson
Goal: Ogunsuyi 30
Subs not used: Sekete, Cameron, Obolo, Chung, Kindon
Swindon Town U18s: Evans (C), McGregor, Chard, Stewart, Hart, Hunt, Coles (Obodo 59), Brown, Ameen (Gonzalez 90), Keyes, Alston (Hubbard 86)
Goals: Alston 1, Ameen 6
Subs not used: Myers, Hutt, Adams, Britchford-Stanley
Referee: David Jones
Attendance: 620
