Braces from Tom Wingate and Farhaan Ali Wahid guided Fulham to a 4-1 win at Exeter City at Dorchester and a place in the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup this evening.
Ali Melloul’s side produced a highly professional away display to beat the Grecians and set up a London derby against either Arsenal or Queens Park Rangers in the next round. The young Whites, playing in the distinctive purple third strip, had to weather a strong start from City with Kieran Wilson seeing a snapshot saved by Dino Kaiser and Liam Oakes driving just over the crossbar having been played in by Santino Ohanaka.
Fulham got themselves into the game and the in-form Wingate, who scored a hat trick in the fourth round triumph over Notts County, stung the palms of home goalkeeper Dylan Shanahan with a shot from outside the area with his first sight of goal. Wingate opened the scoring midway through the first period when he latched onto a lovely through ball from Macauley Zepa and hit a low drive into the bottom corner.
But the Londoners led for just two minutes before Ohanaka punished the visitors for failing to clear a corner by drilling home after an exquisite turn on the edge of the area to bring Exeter level. City might even have gone ahead but a long-range effort from Oakes flew wide before a smart piece of defending from Logan Cooke prevented George Birch from turning in an excellent Ohanaka cross from the right flank.
Wingate restored Fulham’s lead two minutes before the break – arguably against the run of play – with audacious lob over the stranded Shanahan after the striker had sped onto a superb lay-off from Seth Ridgeon. With the cushion of a lead, Melloul’s men controlled possession for much of the second period but were kept at bay until twenty minutes after the restart. Ali Wahid scored the crucial third goal by producing moments of magic after dispossessing Liam Cartwright on Exeter’s left wing, bursting beyond the desperate attentions of Jacca Cavendish and sliding a superb finish under Shanahan and into the corner of the net.
Wingate almost notched another hat-trick when his ridiculous attempt from the halfway line flew fractionally over the crossbar after he had spotted Shanahan off his line, but it was left to the talented Ali Wahid to round off the scoring. The forward’s deflected effort from distance left the Exeter goalkeeper with no chance, but the three-goal margin probably flattered Fulham.
EXETER CITY UNDER 18s: Shanahan; Cartwright (Graham 69), Cavendish, Cayless, Anthony, Oakes, Ohanaka, Crees (Hodgetts 86), Wilson, Birch (Appleton 54), Cooper (Williams 69). Subs (not used): Aston, Down, Alsop.
GOAL: Ohanaka (29).
FULHAM UNDER 18s: Kaiser; Picotto, Esenga (Faux 89), Nsasi (Schutter 81), Cooke; Ridgeon (Khan 89), White, Lubega (De-Gale 75); Zepa (Cavell 86), Ali Wahid, Wingate. Subs (not used): Varney, Evans.
GOALS: Wingate (26, 43), Ali Wahid (65, 78).
