For the third time in the club’s history, the Dorking Wanderers U18’s have reached the 2nd round proper of the FA Youth Cup. Having visited Barnet (19/20) and Cheltenham Town (23/24) previously at that stage, following the defeat of Cambridge City on October 30th the young Wanderers will now travel to face either Hamble Club or Swindon Town in the week commencing November 17th.
The journey to reach the club record-equalling stage of this year’s competition has, reminiscent of the campaign in 23/24, been full of drama, with the ‘Wanderers spirit’ very much alive throughout the qualifying rounds and the first round victory last Thursday evening.
Qualifying round one saw Wanderers host Lewes under the Meadowbank lights on September 17th, a high-tempo, competitive contest ultimately settled through the course of the second half with two fantastic strikes from central midfielder’s Miguel Rodriguez and Cristiano Barreca, seeing off the East Sussex side with a 2-1 win. Miguel’s long range effort spectacularly crashed into goal off the under-side of the bar with twenty minutes to go, and whist the visiting side managed to quickly equalise with a header to restore parity, Cristiano’s first-time strike from the corner of the box restored the lead in style not long afterwards.
A trip across the county then followed with a visit to Camberley Town on October 2nd. After going a goal down midway through the first half, two excellent strikes from Joshua Hebert, of course regularly involved with the first team squad this season, either side of a well-taken header by central midfielder Dillon Grass, ultimately secured Wanderers place in the final qualification round. It had been a physically demanding, battling display on the renowned lop-sided Krooner Park grass pitch, and the spirited hosts did pull a goal back late on to set up a grandstand finish, but Wanderers dug-in and held out to win 2-3.
The final qualifying round then saw Wanderers travel to Potters Bar Town FC to take on Wingate & Finchley on October 17th. The home side took advantage of Wanderers making a slow acclimatisation to the game through the opening forty-five, and put themselves 0-2 up at the half-time break following two clinical low finishes inside the box. Quickly settling into a rhythm after the restart, much of the play would go on to be contested in the Wingate half of the field throughout the second period, and after a superb free kick from Hebert halved the scoreline deficit on the hour, the winger came up trumps again deep in stoppage time, tucking the ball home from the edge of the six yard box with virtually the lack kick of the game to send the tie straight to penalties. With academy second student and regular National League academy goalkeeper Sam Allison injured, U16 Yellows goalkeeper Nathaniel Golan had deputised brilliantly and made some outstanding saves throughout the game, and after saving the second of Wingate’s penalty kicks, Miles Straker, Miguel Rodriguez, Dillon Grass, Sid Moore and Hebert all scored theirs for Wanderers to win the shoot-out 4-5.
On the road for the third consecutive tie, a visit to Cambridge City’s FWD-IP Community Stadium, only opened in November 2024, was the destination for the first round proper, and like the previous round, it again took Wanderers time to find their groove. A topsy-turvy first half saw the home side take an early lead before Blaise Weller quickly levelled the scores, the forward latching on to a headed through-ball from Fin McIntyre and calmly finishing in a 1v1 with the Cambridge goalkeeper. Sid Moore’s cross towards the near post was inadvertently turned into goal by a City defender to put Wanderers in front, but a well-struck free kick low and around the wall up the other end again swiftly pulled the scores back level to 2-2, and that’s how it remained at half-time. After weathering early second half pressure, Wanderers began to gradually take control and re-took the lead with just under a quarter of an hour to go – Moore’s measured low strike from the edge of the box making it 2-3. From there, momentum continued to build and late finishes from Miguel Rodriguez and Miles Straker made absolutely sure of the win in the very late stages, final score 2-5.
Hamble Club or Swindon Town now lie in wait for Wanderers at the 2nd round stage – stay tuned to the club’s social media channels and website for confirmation of when the tie will be played in the week commencing November 17th. Whatever happens next, it’s already been another FA Youth Cup campaign full of special moments and lasting memories for this class of 25/26 – if they can go one stage further, they will create their own unique chapter in Dorking Wanderers history.
