Charlton Athletic Trust 4-0 Romford Gold

Lewisham College (playing as Charlton Athletic Trust) opened their Football Conference Youth Alliance campaign with an emphatic 4-0 victory over visitors Romford Gold at the Sparrows Lane ground. After the disappointment of their early cup exit the previous week, Head Coach Dan Thomas was quick to ring the changes, bringing in several new faces including keeper Robbie Williams and diminutive left wing Zak Colaluca.

Lewisham domintaed the game from the start, and their early pressure forced a goal within 15 minutes, when Haydn Ankle rifled a spectacular long range volley from the edge of the box. The second goal followed almost immediately - good approach play down the left, an accurate cross from Cololuca and a neat turn and finish from striker Mohamed Diakite.

Shortly after the re-start striker Ishmael Henry had to be substitued after a goalmouth clash of heads left him dazed and thoroughly confused, however Lewisham continued to pile on the pressure despite having to re-organise.

The third goal was a direct free kick curled into the bottom corner by Omar Folkes, and the fourth was a tap in for Marvin Taylor. This was his first touch of the game (after coming on as sub) following some excellent link-up play started by right back James Golding, a cross from Ankle, and a fizzing drive by left wing Zak Coaluca, parried by the keeper.

Lewisham's coach Thomas had stressed the importance of keeping a clean sheet in the second half of the match and this was certainly a much more focussed Lewisham performance overall than the previous week. The result could have been even more one-sided had a few more chances been taken. A promising start to the season, but still plenty to work on.

MOTM: Omar Folkes

Charlton Athletic Trust 4 Romford 0 pictures and video

Omar Folkes hitting the crossbar at 3-0 against Romford

The fourth goal against Romford, scored by Marvin Francis

Dominic Green, Peterborough United

Aged 20, Midfield
5’ 6" and 11st 2lbs

Dominic Green joined the LCFA back in 2005, having some years previously been at Chelsea’s academy. He was with us from 2005-2007, successfully completing the OCN Football qualification and the NVQ2 Activity Leadership.

On the pitch, it was immediately apparent that Dominic had enormous potential. An exciting left winger with superb balance and composure on the ball, Dominic broke straight into the first team at 16 and made the left midfield slot his own almost immediately. He toured with us to Holland (the Bon Giorno Cup) in 2006 and the Dallas Cup in 2007.

Dominic’s break came when he signed for Dagenham & Redbridge while at college. After four appearances and his first football league goal from a free kick, he made the transfer to Peterborough United in the season they that ended with their promotion to the Championship. Dominic made three starting appearances and 13 as sub for Peterborough in his first season.

Here’s what they have to say about him on the Peterborough website “great potential to be a star at the highest level, and at just 20 years old, he has plenty of time on his side to become a regular in the championship”

To see Dominic’s profile on the Peterborough squad site, follow this link. Pictures reproduced here with permission of Peterborough United.

New first team training kit arrives

Olufemi Ismail models our 2009-10 training kit from Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic Trust vs AFC Wimbledon 2 - 4

Lewisham's first team, playing as Charlton Athletic Trust in the Football Conference Youth Alliance league cup, lost a hard fought first round tie 4-2 to AFC Wimbledon at home this Wednesday.

The match began with AFC Wimbledon kicking downhill first half, away from the sun. The game started slowly, with Wimbledon having the first opportunity to take the lead with a nice give and go pass which was defended well by Max Zagbayou to deny them the lead. However about 15 minutes later AFC Wimbledon scored a well deserved goal from the edge off the box to put them 1 - 0 ahead.

Lewisham responded well, with Haydn Ankle hitting the woodwork from a quick counter attack. 15 minutes later, Richard Morgan played a nice diagonal ball through the heart of the Wimbledon defence to give Zak Colaluca a 1 on 1 chance with the AFC Wimbledon keeper. Colaluca took his opportunity with a nicely composed low finish to level the score.

In the second half Lewisham came out the better side, with Haydn Ankle causing a lot of problems for Wimbledon’s full back throughout the half. The home side were unable to capitalise on their advantage, however, and suffered a crucial loss of concentration to conceed three soft goals within a short space of time - effectively putting the game beyond reach.

Lewisham were denied a penalty for hand ball and missed some good chances to close the gap, but did pull a consolation goal back from Ankle to make the final score 4 - 2.

by Matt Gardiner

2009-10 Season Update

Charlton Athletic Football Club have agreed to work in partnership with Lewisham College Football Academy next season. This is a very exciting development and will offer the players the opportunity to take their football to the next level.

The highlights of this agreement are:
First team squad to train at Charlton Athletic training ground 3 times per week (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday)
First team home matches played at CAFC training ground
Playing kits supplied by Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic / LCFA training kit will be supplied by the football club at trade cost
First team will play as Charlton Athletic in the Football Conference Youth League

Pre-season progress

Pre-season training for the LCFA started on July 1st, and the players have worked very hard throughout the summer. Highlights of the pre-season fixtures were going to Fulham FC's training ground and performing very capably to secure a 1-1 draw against the Premiership outfit's U17 side. Fulham's academy director was very impressed with the standard of play from the college and admitted that we were unlucky not to win the game. The Lewisham goal came from Louie Theophanous and there was also an outstanding performance from Hadyn Ankle.
Amongst other notable fixtures, pre-season finished with a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspurs' foundation side (U19), again both goals from Louie Theophanous.

Of the new players coming in to the academy there are a number who have impressed early on. Ones to watch include centre mid Akeem Miller and centre forward Mohamed Diakite.

Dan Thomas, Head Coach

Welcome to the 2009-10 Season

Welcome to an exciting 2009-10 season for the Lewisham College Football Academy. Our first team will now be playing as Charlon Athletic Trust in the Football Conference Youth Alliance league, and this means that they will be training three times a week and playing home matches at Charlton's first class Sparrows Lane training ground. The first league fixture is against Romford at Sparrows Lane this week.

We have also completed a partnership arrangement with Fulham FC in the Premiership, which will see our goalkeepers start training at Fulham once per week, and two outfield players will go in on trial with Fulham in the first week in November.

Our second and third teams will be competing in the highly respected English Colleges League, and as a results our players will be eligible to represent England Colleges U19 if selected. Three of our players will be going on trial for this at the end of October. As ever we have continued to strengthen our links with non league teams such as Erith Town & Lewisham Borough.

Money is secured for our squad entry to the world's most prestigious U19 soccer tournament, the 2010 Dallas Cup. It runs from March 27th to April 4th, and planning has already started at the Academy. All of our academy will be competing to make that 18 man squad. There are also plans to enter a second European tournament in July 2010 if funds are available.

All the staff want to welcome Michael Boakye to his first full season as a coach for the academy. Michael will manage the third team and his responsibility will be to develop the younger players and prepare them for the demansd of first and second team football. He's an ex-first team player himself and veteran of several Dallas Cups, currently playing at Tooting & Mitchum, so the boys should be in good hands.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate Stefon Halyes, a stalwart of last season's midfield, on joining Salisbury City on a scholarship.

Dan Thomas, Head Coach/John Bennett, Course Director

Facilities

The Lewisham College Football Academy offers training and match facilities that are hard to beat. Our first team trains and plays its matches at Charlton Athletic's Sparrows Lane ground (Charlton Athletic FC Training Ground, Sparrows lane, Eltham, SE9), and the rest of the academy squad uses the excellent Goals Soccer Centre (Copers Cope Road, New Beckenham), where we have two pitches and a top quality astroturf facility. At the Deptford campus, students have use of the sports hall and gym facilities, including cardio and resistance training equipment as well as free weights. We also have a fully qualified physiotherapist available to squad members and at first team matches.