Barnet’s Youth Team continued their good run at home with a 4-0 win against MK Dons at The Hive on Saturday.
The Bees are now on a four game unbeaten run, following their opening day loss to Luton Town.
Barnet’s Under 18’s created numerous chances against the Dons, in what was a dominant performance from start to finish.
The game started slowly with both teams failing to keep hold of possession in a frenetic opening 10 minutes.
The Bees, as in other Youth Alliance games this season, were denied a clear penalty shout on 14 minutes when Nana Kyei was clipped in the area.
This seemed to invigorate the team and they took the lead on 17 minutes.
A long pass from Centre Back Darnell Smith found Ephron Mason-Clark on the left – his cross was finished from close range by an onrushing Daniel Cheema.
The bees doubled their lead on 38 minutes when MK Dons failed to clear a corner on the edge of their area.
Kyei latched onto the loose ball, and passed to Cheema; he fired in his second goal from 18 yards out, wrong-footing the MK Dons keeper.
As the game headed towards half-time, MK Dons pressed for a goal and missed a couple of guilt edge chances.
However they were punished again through a set piece.
A short corner was not cleared and after Thomas Day turned the ball back in the area, Brandon McCarthy was there to swivel and half-volley home from 15 yards.
The second half was again dominated by Barnet.
MK Dons high defensive line encouraged the Bees to attack on the break; the result was a series of one-on-one chances which were not converted until the 76th minute.
A turnover in midfield saw Bradley Kauzeni break from midfield – his pass to Cheema was coolly dispatched to complete his first Youth Team hat-trick.
Speaking after the game, Youth Team coach Dean Selvey stressed the importance of consistently high level performances throughout the match:
"The MK Dons team last year were very strong.
“This time they came here today with a young group, and that showed.
“Whilst we scored 4 goals and kept a clean sheet, Henry Newman (Academy Manager) and I have high expectations of this group.
“We didn’t quite reach those today.
We played well in patches, but on a different day we could have conceded.
“So we need to get into the habit of taking all our chances and killing games off early.
“That said, we scored 4 good goals and a clean sheet is great for the group’s increasing confidence.
“We are looking to have a good week in training, before heading to Northampton next Saturday for what is sure to be a tough test.”
The Youth Team face Northampton Town (A) on Saturday 5th September, before returning to The Hive to play AFC Wimbledon on Saturday 12th September.
If you want to support the next crop of Barnet’s finest then come on down and get behind the team!
The game kicks off at 11am.
