Dan the Fan: Under 18's turning heads in F.A Youth Cup (From Swindon Advertiser)

Dan the Fan: Under 18's turning heads in F.A Youth Cup

7:00am Friday 23rd December 2011

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On Saturday before we watched Town in league action we got the chance to acknowledge some past greats that have played at the County Ground.

As a football club Swindon are very good at recognising past greats of the club and that continued with Don Rodgers, John Trollope MBE and Paul Bodin all being the first inductees into the clubs new new Hall of Fame.

After an even start to the game Town’s quality shined through and went into half time with a 2-0 lead and the game eventually finished 3-0 to Swindon.

Once again keeper Wes Foderingham played a huge part in the result making some crucial saves in the first half.

Since arriving at the club in mid October Wes started off by not conceding a goal in his first five games and overall in his twelve appearances he’s only conceded four goals.

Of course the superb defence in front of him plays a huge part in that but after making key saves in most games he’s become a essential first team player at the club.

With his loan coming to an end in January the club have said they are keen to sign him up for the rest of the season, lets hope all three parties can come to an agreement soon, and you never know a permanent deal might be on the cards in the future.

With the first team starting to turn heads in the football league the clubs Under 18's team have been doing the same thing in this seasons F.A Youth Cup.

After success in the previous rounds and most recently with a 3-2 win over Birmingham City, Town's Under 18's Team have been draw against big boys Manchester City at home in the 4th Round.

Even with City bringing some of the best young talent from around the country which includes former Town youth player Alex Henshall Paul Bodin’s young team have already shown they have all the quality needed to move into the next round.

And with the success of the Under 18's team hopefully we will see some more players make their way into the first team in the coming months to join up with the Thompson brothers, Leigh Bedwell, Matt Clark and Miles Storey who have all earned a first team number this season.

The Under 18's will play Manchester City on Tuesday 17th January 2012 (subject to change), ticket details will be announced over the following days.

With Christmas only a few days away that means lots of extra football being played across the country, over the next couple of weeks Town play three important league games and a huge F.A Cup 3rd Round tie.

The busy schedule starts on Boxing Day when Town travels down to Devon to take on Torquay Utd at Plainmoor.

Up until last Saturday’s defeat the Gulls had been on a six game unbeaten run and started to climb the table and nearing the playoff places, thanks to players like Rene Howe (suspended for next Monday), Eunan O’Kane and Swindon loan player Billy Bodin.

After being in Paolo Di Canio’s first few teams Billy made the loan move to Torquay and has impressed so much that manager Martin Ling wants to bring Bodin in on a permanent deal.

But with him highly rated at Swindon I can’t see the club selling the player and I hope he returns and can make an impact in our first team as well this season.

Manager Paolo Di Canio has targeted at least 4 points from the next two away games and with Town on a 15 game unbeaten run I’m confident Paolo’s target will be achieved.

Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson6.

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