Horsham Youth made the journey to Banstead to take on AFC Wimbledon in the 1st Round of the League Cup and, with it being close to Halloween, one can safely say it was a nightmare that the Hornets will quickly want to forget.

Many of the players were held up in traffic so it was a quick change and warm up and into the match. Wimbledon started the game well but without making any clear cut chances. Horsham were struggling in midfield to keep the ball and this allowed AFC to dominate the park and it was no surprise when they went ahead after 20 minutes with James Cottee heading home the first of a personal treble.

The next 15 minutes of play was all about some great goalkeeping from Jamie Witham and brave and last ditch defending as the Wombles looked to get a second but eventually something had to give and, following a corner, Cottee volleyed home to make it 2-0. Despite being under the pressure for so long Horsham had a chance to get themselves back into the game but George Magnus put his effort wide. As the Hornets' desperate defending continued it looked to be a case of getting in at half time just 2-0 down but, seconds before the whistle, Cottee completed his hat-trick to give the Hornets a mountain to climb in the second half.

The Hornets came out after the break determined to compete better and, for 15 minutes, showed glimpses of this as the tackles became stronger and a couple of half chances gave them encouragement. Eventually the Dons got back into their stride and with two quick goals from Joe Jackson the scoreline went to 5-0.

Horsham now had to dig deep but again were finding it hard to retain the ball when in possession and only the hardworking Josh Clack up front was seemingly available for any of the out balls there were in the opponents half.

The Hornets kept working hard 'til the end but Jordan Hutchinson and Rhys Turner added further goals to make the final score 7-0, leaving Horsham to concede they were well beaten by a good side.