Greg Morley reports as Charlton Athletic surge to a dominant display in the U21 Premier League Cup.
An impressive display from Charlton Athletic’s development squad earned them a 4-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon’s U21 squad at Park View Road on Tuesday evening.
Goals from Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Jack Munns, Tareiq Holmes-Dennis and Callum Harriott ensured the Addicks’ debut appearance in the U21 Premier League Cup was a resounding success.
Jason Euell included three youngsters who have all seen first-team football this term, but it was the opposition who threatened early on. Kevin Sainte-Luce had an early effort at the Charlton goal which Dillon Phillips managed to get behind, with the Reds having to be patient for their opportunities.
They did get those opportunities, however, and after slowly getting a foothold into the match, Ahearne-Grant gave them the lead on 30 minutes.
After latching onto a header from Morgan Fox, Grant first had his initial effort saved by the oncoming keeper, but composed himself to slot away the rebound from a tight angle.
As the half drew to a close, Charlton were dominating, with Jack Munns Ahearne-Grant in particular toying with the Wimbledon defence. It was the same combination that brought their second goal just after half-time.
Munns, a thorn in the Dons side all evening, played a crafty through ball for Grant to latch onto. After rounding the keeper, he saw his shot cannon off the post, only for Munns to gratefully tuck home the rebound for 2-0.
With the shackles seemingly off, the Addicks were flying and went on to score their third in the 59th minute. Tareiq Holmes-Dennis unleashed a 25-yard effort which Billy Bishop simply couldn’t get to.
It seemed as if they were home and hosed, but Athletic weren’t quite finished with the scoring. Harriott rubbed salt into the wounds only five minutes later. Collecting a short corner, the youngster fired a crisp shot into the corner to add gloss to the victory.
Both the Wimbledon goalkeeper and the woodwork were tested further before full-time, but the scoreline remained 4-0 with Charlton safely through to the second round.