Swindon Town U18s put in a memorable performance with a 2-0 victory against Manchester United U18s in fourth round of the FA Youth Cup at The County Ground on Tuesday evening.
Forward Botan Ameen opened the scoring for Town early in the first half before extending their lead with a brilliant strike by the young striker just before the half-time whistle.
Swindon would hold firm for the second half with a brilliant defensive display and great all-round team performance, that sees them now ahead to the next round against either Sunderland or Gillingham away.
Town made three changes to the side that faced Forest Green Rovers U18s, with Conor Britchford-Stanley, Danl Gonzalez, and Liam Hutt all being side-lined for Alistair Stewart, Joel McGregor and Josh Keyes.
Swindon's youngsters were also further boosted by the return of Lucas Myers to the bench.
Town were quick out the blocks, as an early goal saw them take the lead through a well-worked team goal in the 14th minute.
This started through the creative Josh Keyes, as he played a ball into the box that would find the head of clinical Ameen, whose flick allowed George Alston to set the ball back for the forward to grab his first of the game.
Momentum didn’t slow down for Swindon, though, as they looked to get a second moments after, through a terrific long-range effort from midfielder Jaxon Brown, but the ball was lifted a little too much for it to creep in just under the Manchester United crossbar.
It wouldn’t be until halfway through the first half that the game's next chance would come along, and it would fall to goal scorer Ameen, whose shot from just outside the box would be matched well by Harrison in goal for Manchester United.
However, that wouldn’t be the end of the action for the first half as it would be that man again Botan Ameen to extend the lead for Swindon.
A brilliant ball from Jaxon Brown allowed Ameen to drag his marker out of position and a quick feint to shift the ball to his left foot, allowed him to smash his effort into the top left corner and give Town a deserved two-goal advantage.
This moment would see Swindon have the lead going into the second half as they would look to see it out for the upcoming second half.
Half-time: Swindon Town U18s 2-0 Manchester United U18s
The second 45 would start similarly to the first as Swindon carried all the momentum with George Alston showing brilliant trickery to beat three Man United defenders before putting his effort just wide of the post.
Defensively, Town were tested late on, but the resolute defence and grit shown by the youngsters to deliver what is a simply exceptional performance on the evening, earned them the progression to the next stage of the FA Youth Cup, overcoming the 11-time winners of the competition.
Town will now look to see who they face out of Gillingham U18s or Sunderland U18s in the next round of The FA Youth Cup as they look to carry on the cup run and replicate this kind of performance in their next league challenge against Newport away on Saturday.
Swindon Town U18s: Evans (C), McGregor, Chard, Stewart, Hart, Hunt, Coles (Obodo 79’), Brown, Ameen, Keyes, Alston (Gonzalez 90’)
Goals: Ameen 14, 39
Subs not used: Myers, Hutt, Adams, McCormick, Britchford-Stanley
Manchester United U18s: Harrison, Ogunneye, Amass, Kingdon, Jackson (C), Devaney (Musa 77’), Missin, Fitzgerald (Curley 65’), Wheatley, J.Fletcher, Williams (Schanlon 65’)
Subs not used: Myles, Munro, Mantato, McAllister, Curley
Referee: Neil Pratt
Attendance: 2,187
