Dean Critchfield's Hayes & Yeading United under 18 side followed up last weeks demolition of Westfield with a hard earned three points against a very good Fleet Town side at Beaconsfield Road this evening.

United were to take command of proceedings early on and almost opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Jack Todd cut in from the left only to be denied by the feet of Fleet keeper Matthew Goodsell. Just a minute later a Daniel Blackwood corner found the head of towering centre-back Abdi Hamadi but his header was off target. United continued to press for the opening goal, Mitchell Dunstall fired high and wide after latching onto a poor clearance and Todd then forced a superb fingertip save from Goodsell as he angled a drive from 25 yards that went wide off the upright.

26 minutes had passed and it should have been the visitors who took the lead as a corner from the left found an unmarked Chris Neate six yards from goal but he headed well wide of the target. This was a minor blip however and United were soon sweeping up the left flank where Todd found Blackwood, the latter cutting the ball back into the middle where Charlie Noble slid the ball past Goodsell to open the scoring.

Ten minutes of the half remained when Mike Campbell fed the ball inside to Taylor who hit a powerful drive only to be denied by the quick reactions of United stopper Rourke Pickford. United could have added two more before the break, but did manage one. Matthew Heyhoe heading off the line after Goodsell had been lobbed from the edge of the area was closely followed by the keeper being flagged for handling outside his area. Jake Edmunds stepped up and cracked the ball past the defensive wall and into the top right hand corner of the net giving Goodsell no chance at all.

The start of the second period saw both keepers in action as firstly Goodsell did well to smother at the feet of Dunstall and at the other end Callum Bush broke into the area only to be denied by Pickford's outstretched boot. Just minutes later Pickford was beaten though as Taylor latched onto a bouncing ball 20 yards out and lofted the ball on the volley into the top corner of the United net.

Despite getting back into the game at 2-1, the visitors rarely troubled Pickford for the remainder of the game, the closest being a 35 yard drive from Ashley Tribe that required the United keeper to tip over at full stretch. United's closest efforts at increasing the lead saw efforts from Todd and Noble go close but Goodsell was not really troubled.

Report by Kevin Watts.

Website United Man of the Match: Jake Edmunds.