Four Jewish boys played a crucial role as Wingate & Finchley U18's made an emphatic start to their FA Youth Cup campaign with a 12-1 preliminary round demolition of Ryman League rivals Bedfont Sports.
The signs of a one-sided game were ominous early on when Harry Robinson forced a good save from the Bedfont keeper after just three minutes and then hit the bar from the rebound.
A minute later, Gavin Suddell hit the post before Robinson set up Jeremy Nestor whose tame shot was easily saved.
Inevitably, the first goal soon arrived. Nathan Frazer-Carroll advanced well down the inside left channel and crossed for Robinson who easily rounded the keeper to score.
Seven minutes later, Robinson turned provider, playing in Frazer-Carroll whose superb shot from the edge of the area rifled in the top corner for the goal of the game.
With credit to Bedfont, they continued to press forward, and a slightly rash challenge outside the area by Wingate keeper Seb Santos allowed the away side to pull a goal back from a very well placed free kick.
Fortunately for the home team, this was as close to a comeback as the game got. Robinson scored again five minutes before the break and then secured a hat trick just before half time after a superb slide rule pass from Jeremy Nestor.
Not content with their lead, the Blues bought on danger man Andreas Kyprianou after the restart, and the positive move paid off straight away as the dangerous striker scored with his first touch from a superb Harry Robinson cross.
Five minutes later, Frazer-Carroll grabbed his second and Wingate’s sixth of the game with a tap in, by which point the match was really over as a contest.
At times, the home side’s passing and movement off the ball was a joy to watch, and six more goals were added before the final whistle, with Robinson, Kyprianou and Frazer-Carroll grabbing two each.
After watching such a convincing win, U18s manager Aron Sharpe was understandably delighted. He said: "Tonight saw the beginning of the years put into youth development; we could have played a different team from a squad of 28 boys and achieved the same result, it just shows the depth of talent available to the club.
"It is pleasing to see that Wingate have progressed as a top youth development club and managed to re-introduce a Jewish element with four top class Jewish boys starting.
"Bedfont have a fine future with their young squad - they unfortunately came up against one of the top Under 18 teams at our level. The night was very satisfying for us all."
Like it’s adult counterpart, the FA Youth Cup starts with a preliminary round, followed by four qualifying rounds for non-League teams. Football League teams enter the draw thereafter, with League One and League Two teams entering at the First round, and Premier League and Championship teams entering in the Third round. The Blues will now play Uxbridge in the first qualifying round in two weeks.
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