Swindon Town under-18s progressed through to the second round of the FA Youth Cup following a 1-0 win over Aldershot Town under-18s.

The Shots had the ball in the back of the Swindon net after 19 minutes when a short corner created space for Mark Holley to cross to the far post, where Kaden Hughes had the simplest of tasks to turn home, but the assistant referee had quickly put their flag up to disallow the goal.

After 23 minutes, Conor Britchford-Stanley slipped a ball down the line for Miles Obodo to chase, he out-muscled the defender and charged through on goal. As the 16-year-old looked to slide an effort between the legs of Alex Walder, the Aldershot man made a good save.

On the half-hour mark, after initially having his cross blocked, the ball came back to Britchford-Stanley. The wide man came inside and went on a slaloming run between three defenders before placing a shot that was helped beyond Walder into the far corner.

More strong running into the channels from Obodo paid dividends as he was able to get away from the defender and tee up Jaxon Brown, who found a yard of space and forced a fine save from Walder.

With time running out for Aldershot to find a way back, Eddie Cooper had a dig from range after a wide free-kick was cleared, but Redman Evans got down well to ensure Swindon were in the hat for the next round.

Lead Professional Development Phase Coach Sean Wood felt his young side put in a professional performance to ensure progression to the next round.

Speaking to club media, he said: “Sometimes it can look like a transitional basketball match at under-18s, but tonight we were in control of the ball.

“I don’t know what the possession stats were, but we must have had 65, 70 per cent possession.

“Sometimes if you don’t get the second goal, it gives hope to the opposition to stay in the game, so it was important we kept our concentration on the transition of the ball or any free kicks towards the end of the game.

“We did that well and it was pleasing for our backline and ‘keeper to keep that clean sheet, even though we were so dominant with the ball today.

“As the game went on the conditions changed and were very wet and windy, so it wasn’t easy, and it was a professional performance, clean sheet, and we are into the next round.”