A dream start propelled Swindon Town under-18s in the FA Youth Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2007 with a 2-1 win against Sunderland.

Swindon took the lead within 30 seconds as Botan Ameen drove down the left side and played the ball into George Alston, who chopped onto his right foot and rifled a shot inside the near post.

Then just a few minutes later it got even better for Town as this time Alston fed Ameen with a cross, which was initially parried by Matty Young, but he could never get the ball to safety and eventually, the hero of the last round forced it over the line.

The attacks kept coming as Joel McGregor drove infield from right-back and with multiple would-be tacklers in pursuit kept going before getting to the top of the box and feeding Alston, whose effort was deflected behind for a corner.

After 20 minutes, the hosts won a free-kick on the edge of the box that, which Rigg took and the ball flicked off the top of the wall and struck the top of Redman Evans’ crossbar before bouncing over.

It took frantic last-ditch defending to deny Swindon as Jaxon Brown struck a pass out to Alston, who nonchalantly slipped through Harry Chard before his cutback towards Ameen was scrambled away.

The host’s threats eventually paid dividends when Tom Lavery drove into midfield and slipped Trey Ogunsuyi in behind, who tucked home the first goal Swindon have conceded in the Youth Cup this season.

Early in the second half, Watson showed calmness in the area as he positioned himself for a shot from close range, but McGregor came up with a massive block to deny him.

The Black Cats were piling the pressure on as McGregor was caught out of position and Watson got in behind, but Evans stayed big and made the save one-on-one.

Sunderland were the ones holding most of the ball, but Swindon were still threatening on the break and after 70 minutes Miles Obodo burst beyond his marker but couldn’t quite find Ameen in the middle.

Obodo was again a danger on the counter as Ameen slipped the ball to him and his strike from the edge of the box rippled the side netting.

With time ticking away, Sunderland got into a great position and a low cross found Ben Creamer but he inexplicably lifted over from inside the six-yard box.

SAFC starting XI: Young, Lavery, Beattie, Bell, Jones, J. Jones, Whittaker, Rigg, Creamer, Watson, Ogunsuyi.

SAFC substitutes: Cameron, Kindon, Sekete, Neild, Mitchell, Obolo, Chung.

STFC starting XI: Evans, McGregor, Chard, Stewart, Hart, Hunt, Coles, Brown, Ameen, Keyes, Alston.

STFC substitutes: Myers, Hutt, Hubbard, Adams, Britchford-Stanley, Gonzalez, Obodo.