Cheltenham Town under 18’s were taken to extra time before booking their place in the F.A. Youth Cup Third Round with a 2-0 win over Welling United at Whaddon Road.
Goals from Will Dawes and substitute Ben Hailwood in the second half of extra time secured the Robins’ victory.
They will now go on to face either Wigan Athletic or Bury at home in the Third Round of the competition.
The opening exchanges of the game were quite balanced but it would be the hosts who saw the first sight of goal after nine minutes.
Taking down a long ball from Grant Horton inside the box, George Lloyd smartly cut onto his right foot before unleashing a shot across Diumannis Gossemna in the Welling goal who was able to tip the ball behind.
16 minutes in and Gossemna looked unstoppable in the Welling goal. Just after tipping a Lee Llewellyn free kick over the bar, Lloyd had another chance to give Cheltenham the lead but the visitor’s keeper matched his shot.
The Robins thought they’d taken the lead 20 minutes in as Alfie Brennan slotted home at the back post after a rebound but the home cheers were silenced by the linesman who flagged for offside.
The midway point of the first half would signal the end of the Welling keeper’s night though. Following a collision with a defender when clearing a dangerous ball he was treated for some time before being stretchered off. Matt Brown would come on to replace him.
As the first half went on Cheltenham looked the more dangerous but it would be Welling to have the last chance of the half.
A lengthy goal kick found its way to Welling striker, Ethan Grant’s path when breaking into the Cheltenham box but he could only pull his shot wide.
Welling would then have the first chance of the second half through Ollie Milton. Grant cleverly brought down a long ball and clipped a pass into Milton who spun his marker before putting his shot just wide of the post.
Just after the hour mark, Cheltenham had their pop at goal through Brennan. After chasing a diagonal ball, Ben Hailwood managed to hook a cross back into the box for Brennan whose shot was deflected just past the post.
From the resulting corner a goalmouth scramble saw the ball pop out to the edge of the where Hailwood was waiting but he was only able to smash his effort wide.
After that Hailwood became his opposite number’s nightmare, getting the beating of him on numerous occasions before feeding his strikers who couldn’t quite add the finishing touches before the 90th minute which meant we went into extra time.
Almost instantly after the break, the hosts saw themselves go ahead. A deep cross from Lloyd found Finley Clift at the back post but his header wouldn’t pass Brown in goal.
Hailwood then came close as at the end of the half but could only find the side netting.
Less than a minute into the second half of extra time and Cheltenham finally had their goal.
A deep cross was nodded back across goal by Clift before Lloyd’s scuffed effort was diverted home by Will Dawes to give the home fans something to cheer about.
In the dying moments of the game Hailwood found his shooting boots. Breaking on an attacking Welling side, Hailwood played with the one defender left to mark him before firing the ball into the top corner to book Cheltenham Town’s place in the Third Round of the F.A. Youth Cup.
Cheltenham Town: Clayton, Horton, Davis, Llewellyn, Lloyd, Hunt, Dawes (Beardstall 111’), Duncan (Clift 69’), Price (Hailwood 57’), Brennan, Handley
Subs: Beardsell, Grimshaw, Hailwood, Scott, Clift
Welling United: Gossemna, French, Raines, Hughes, Edwards, Fullbrook, Hart (Mampono 104’), Hever, Milton, Grant, Sobeh (Belcher 85’)
Subs: Mampono, Brown, Ohene, Newham, Belcher
Art de Roché 