AFC Wimbledon U13 Girls secured an emphatic victory over R&R FC U13 Girls in an action-packed afternoon at Meadowbank Football Ground. 

In our second fixture of the day, the game started with a bang as Wimbledon scrambled home through Chloe Finch to go ahead in the first minute. 

Minutes later, Andriana D’Souza pounced to poke the ball in and double Wimbledon’s lead, giving R&R a mountain to climb as they looked to get back into the tie. 

As the half progressed, R&R began to find themselves further in Wimbledon’s territory, however goalkeeper Ava Fowler showed confidence in her area and chances for R&R were few and far between. Wimbledon were unlucky to miss an opportunity to take the game to 3-0, as they jumped on the counterattack to narrowly miss by hitting the bar. 

Finally, the continued pressure from R&R resulted in a mistake from Wimbledon, as one of their players was judged to have handled the ball from an incoming corner. Penalty to R&R. Up stepped Kanyese Lawrence to take the kick, but her effort was high and over the goal as Wimbledon breathed a sigh of relief. 

R&R kept their resolve and continued to put Wimbledon under pressure, Carla-Ortega Peraita shooting wide and Roberta Aveloaei outmuscling the defence to force a good save from Ava Fowler again.

However, AFC Wimbledon were undeterred, and took the scoreline to 3-0 as Scarlett Mullane turned well on the ball to strike into the back of the opposition net, giving them a comfortable lead at the interval. 

The second half saw Wimbledon replicate their strong start to the game, as Ava Price smashed the ball into the roof of the net to make it 4-0, but the prolific no.9 wasn’t finished as moments later her clever feet opened the R&R defence, and another lifted shot secured her a brace and Wimbledon a 5-0 lead. 

As the half progressed, fortune was against R&R as Minnie Forman launched an ambitious ball towards keeper Susieta Thayaparan, who was unfortunate to spill the ball into her own net and increase Wimbledon’s advantage to 6-0.

Scarlett Mullane seized the opportunity to add to her tally, as she lashed the ball home to further increase the Wimbledon lead, before Andriana D’Souza followed suit after a shot was parried into her path by the goalkeeper, for her to poke home in front of goal and take the game to 8-0. 

In the remaining minutes Wimbledon could have taken their lead to 9 but were prevented from doing so by some last ditch defending from Carla-Ortega Peraita, though their performance ensured they finished the game strong to secure the U13 Girls Cup.