Mentality key to FA Youth Cup victory, says Mundle

Romaine Mundle was pleased with our Under-18s’ resilience to get past a stubborn AFC Wimbledon side in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night.

We needed extra time to see off the EFL Youth Alliance outfit at the new Plough Lane, attacking midfielder Romaine setting up substitute striker Jamie Donley to finally break the Dons’ resistance in the 99th minute before Jamie returned the favour, playing in Romaine to kill the game off with a well-taken second goal in the last few moments.

Jamie bagged another one for 3-0 in stoppage time, adding some extra gloss to the final score as we marched on into the fifth round, where we’ll play at home to West Bromwich Albion.

After a gruelling initial 90 minutes, Romaine was thrilled to help us get over the line in the end.

“I thought the boys dug deep – mentally we were strong and after the first goal went in, that’s when we knew we could get more,” said the 17-year-old.

“We kept moving the ball, kept trying things and we ran for each other, not just for ourselves. They were playing a high line so we kept trying to play the ball over the top to either the wingers or the full-backs, but we were caught off-side or the ball wasn’t to the standards we expect of ourselves. It could have been a frustrating game, they played to their tactics really well and it was hard trying to break them down but we got the win in the end and this is what we’re about – we’re coming into this competition to win it, our aim is to win it, so we keep pushing on and just battle whatever is in front of us really.”

We were indebted to goalkeeper and captain Thimothee Lo-Tutala for a fantastic save at the start of extra time to keep us level at 0-0, with Jamie opening the scoring at the other end less than two minutes later, sparking wild celebrations among the players.

“That save gave us extra belief, and it was also a wake-up call to say that maybe the next one, they’re scoring, so we knew we had to fix some things and that the next shot we had needed to go in,” explained Romaine. “I thought Thimmi was outstanding – he kept us in the game, he was vocal, leading the players and that save kept us in it.”

Talking through the goals that followed, Romaine added: “For the first one, as I said, they were playing a high line so Nile (John) has lofted a ball over the top to me and I was just thinking that I had to get the first contact and put it in the area for Jamie, and he took the goal really well. He was a brilliant super sub, he did his job, scored goals and he assisted my goal as well, so that’s what you need.

“With the second one, for me, it was instinct just to take it first time and just to take care with it because those balls could go over the bar or could go wide, so I had to concentrate. It was the 116th minute so my mindset was that I had to score, I had to concentrate and thankfully I found the back of the net.”