Finding magic in the FA Youth Cup – the students who took on Chelsea's stars of the future

Bobby Bowry looks around the room at the young faces staring back at him. There is excitement in their eyes ahead of the biggest week of their lives.

“When you actually think about what we’ve done the last five months, it’s unbelievable,” Bowry says. “But now we have to be really honest with ourselves in terms of where we’ve got to and who we’re playing.”

Bowry is talking about a journey that started in August, when Merstham FC Under-18s were one of 633 clubs to enter the FA Youth Cup – the most prestigious tournament for academy-age players in England and a competition that has been won by a long list of stars, including everyone from George Best to Cole Palmer.

Based in south London and made up of students across two schools who would previously have seen themselves as rivals rather than team-mates, Merstham played their first FA Youth Cup match in the extra preliminary round. Remarkably, the non-League club have won eight successive ties in the competition, scoring 43 goals and conceding only twice, to reach the last 32.

“The boys only train on a Friday and a Monday on FA Youth Cup week,” Bowry, the Merstham coach, says. “They don’t train together any other time. The gold dust is unbelievable.”

The reward for their incredible run was a fourth-round glamour tie against Chelsea, the nine-time winners of the FA Youth Cup and a team made up of some of the most talented young footballers in Europe.

Bowry, who played for Crystal Palace in the Premier League in the early 1990s and made more than 400 appearances across his professional career, puffs out his cheeks when he thinks about the Chelsea side.

“The boy Shumaira (Mheuka), he’s a centre-forward for England Under-17s with Mikey Moore (Tottenham), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal) and Chris Rigg (Sunderland). The centre midfield player, Ollie Harrison, is the best I’ve seen. Normally you see No 6s who are just nice. He can play around the corners, knit it, get the other side of people. I’ve watched three games and I’d say he’s completed 98 percent of his passes.

“The Portuguese winger (Leo Cardoso), I just thought he was a speedboat. I watched him Saturday, comes wide, rolls in, half-turn, gone.”

Bowry could go on and on. The majority of Chelsea’s under-18 squad have already signed professional contracts and some are already earning more than £10,000 a week.

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The Chelsea Under-18s team for the game against Merstham

1. Hudson Sands
Age 17, goalkeeper. Joined Chelsea as an under-8 and signed professional terms last October, shortly after starting his scholarship. Represented England Under-15s and Under-16s.

2. Genesis Antwi
Age 17, right-back. Joined Chelsea as an under-12 and signed his first professional contract last September. Antwi has played for Chelsea’s under-21s and featured for England and Sweden at international youth level.

4. Landon Emenalo
Age 17, midfielder/centre-back. Born in Arizona, Landon is the son of Michael Emenalo, the former Chelsea sporting director. Returned to Chelsea as an under-13 after a spell with Monaco. Represented England and the United States at international youth level

5. Calvin Diakite
Age 15, left-back/centre-back. Joined Chelsea as an under-10, eligible to play for Ivory Coast and England, and has represented the latter at under-15 and under-16 level. Regularly playing well above his age.

11. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen
Age 16, left winger. Prolific wide attacker who is regularly playing well above his age for Chelsea and has also starred for England at youth level.

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If the Chelsea players are living the dream, the Merstham players are chasing it. Some of them, such as 17-year-old Josh Solecki, are trying to find a way back into a game that can be as brutal as it is beautiful.

Released by Crystal Palace at the age of 15, Solecki remembers returning to his grassroots club for the first time. “I never really went to a session when I was in the academy so they all thought something was up, but I didn’t say anything,” he explains. “And then at the end of the session I asked the coach if I could say something. I told all the players and the coaches (about what happened at Palace). I was halfway through and I broke down in tears.”

Solecki smiles when asked what his ambitions are now. “The plan is still to make it,” he says. “That will never stop.”

Others in the Merstham squad are hoping that the door to professional football will open for them for the first time.

“I want to be a footballer and the one from my family who can provide,” says Chris Lutonadio, a cultured left-footed midfielder from Islington who “likes to make passes – a lot of passes.”

Solecki and Lutonadio go to different schools – Coombe Wood in Croydon and London Nautical in Blackfriars – as part of the Volenti Academy programme that Bowry oversees. Around 150 boys, aged between 16 and 19, combine football with education, either studying A levels or a BTEC qualification alongside regular training and matches, including fixtures against professional academies.

In reality, though, it’s much deeper than that. “In general, football for these boys keeps them on the straight and narrow, keeps them coming to school, and gives them a focus to actually want to better themselves rather than being dragged down by others who would just be happy staying at home and doing street crime,” Bowry says.

“We talk about destination, where they’re going to go. Because, ultimately, if we don’t do right by these boys, they’re going to get lost in life, sadly.”

The academy’s relationship with Merstham FC Under-18s, whose first team play in the Isthmian League Division One South East, which is the eighth tier of English football, started this season. Some of the boys are expected to play for Merstham’s first team in the Surrey Cup soon. Not that anyone is thinking about that game right now.

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Bowry has done his homework on every team Merstham have faced in the FA Youth Cup so far, but Monday afternoon’s analysis session in the gym at Coombe Wood school feels a bit different to anything that has gone before.

“There are players here that I feel are potentially world-class,” Bowry says as he points to the television screen and scrolls through Chelsea’s starting line-up in their 4-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

“Out of possession, we need to have our shape right because they can kill you with two passes,” he adds. “But what we’re gonna make sure we do is, we’re gonna go for it. So we’re gonna play our 3-5-2 system, but we’re gonna tweak it in ways where we can get our players on the ball because, ultimately, what is our job? Our job is to get you signed by people.”

Steve McKimm, Bowry’s assistant, stresses how important it is that the two strikers stay disciplined with their positioning when Chelsea have the ball at the back. “What will happen with you, and I’ve seen it before, is you’ll get impatient and jump. Once you jump, it’s passed around, in, out, and then we’re dead,” McKimm says. “There’s gonna be a time when you can jump. But there’s a time where you’ve just got to mirror the ball across the pitch.”

At one point against West Brom, Landon Emenalo, the Chelsea No 4 and the son of the club’s former technical director Michael, performs a Zidane roulette turn to spin away from two West Brom players, prompting gasps from the 30 or so players whose eyes are glued to the screen.

“Just because you’re playing Chelsea… they’re there to be tackled,” McKimm says.

Before the players go outside to train and work tactically on some of the things that they have just watched, Bowry wants to say something else.

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since last week,” he adds. “I’m still doing the same job I’ve been doing for the last 10 years. But what’s different is you carried us to the best thing you’re ever gonna do, potentially. Tomorrow we’ve got ITV (a national television broadcaster) here. You’re getting new hoodies. I’m so pleased for you. I’ll give you anything. But on Wednesday, we’re gonna play football.

“Make sure you go and enjoy playing football.”

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“Premier League – you won’t last very long,” Bowry says, smiling and looking at the six players in the first group. “The Championship, League One… the Dog and Duck. We’ll work for a minute. Chaz (Charlie Greenwood, the assistant coach), you look at the first two groups to see who needs to be moved. I’ll look at the other two groups.”

The boys are taking part in a passing exercise around mannequins in four different groups. They will be shifted up and down – promoted or relegated – depending on how they perform in the drill. It’s fun but serious too.

“The devil is in the detail. Play to the correct foot,” Bowry says, preaching the importance of passing to the back foot.

There is laughter and good-natured finger-pointing at the end of each 60 seconds, as players argue over who should be in the top-flight group or playing pub football. Bowry has the final say.

He puts on another drill in groups of six afterwards, working on setting the ball, rapping passes around the corner and sprinting diagonally to receive possession again. The tempo of the session is high as the ball zips around.

Occasionally a player makes the wrong run, or a pass goes astray, prompting team-mates to encourage one another to focus and take more care. At other times, Bowry intervenes to make a coaching point, whether that’s telling a player to use his weaker foot to execute the pass quicker and prevent it from being blocked in a game, or to highlight some sloppiness.

“Rap a ball into me fast,” he asks one of the players.

Wearing a pair of trainers, Bowry sets the ball perfectly with a cushioned lay-off. “If you can’t do that now, you shouldn’t be playing,” he adds, looking at one of the strikers.

“You’re a really good player,” Bowry says. “How many times have you bobbled the ball up? You know why? Watch. Here’s the detail.”

The ball is passed into Bowry again and this time he leans back. As he sets the ball, it jumps into the air. “Body shape. Take the sting out of the ball,” Bowry says. “You’re so good. But I’ve just watched you do three in a row. I don’t care about mistakes. Get the detail right. Come on, 30 seconds and we’re going into a game.”

That game is a full-scale practice match, with the XI due to start in the FA Youth Cup lining up against the remainder of the squad, who wear bibs and set up in the same formation that Chelsea are expected to play.

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The Merstham Under-18s team for the Chelsea game 

1. Nico Tero
Age 17, goalkeeper. Studying A-levels in biology, chemistry and history at Coombe Wood school, Croydon. Previously had trials with Southampton, Wolves, Bournemouth, Lincoln and Sutton.
Idol: Gianluigi Buffon
Supports: Brentford

2. Jayden Meade
Age 18, right-back. Studying BTEC in Sport and A-levels in maths and business at London Nautical school. With Leyton Orient as an under-9.
Idol: Ronaldinho
Supports: Manchester United 

3. Shay Dunn
Age 17, centre-back. Studying BTEC in Sport at Coombe Wood school. On trial with Nottingham Forest last summer.
Idol: Steven Gerrard
Supports: Liverpool

4. Chris Lutonadio
Age 18, central midfielder. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. On trial with Colchester last summer.
Idol: Kevin De Bruyne
Supports: Arsenal

5. Chris Rangel
Age 17, centre-back. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. Previously played for Universal Academy in London.
Idol: Sergio Ramos
Supports: Manchester United

6. Reese Cartwright
Age 17, central midfielder. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. With Millwall from under-9 to under-12.
Idol: Xavi
Supports: Charlton

7. Luyanda Mafu
Age 17, right wing-back. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. Previously had trials with Fulham and AFC Wimbledon.
Idol: Mohamed Salah
Supports: Liverpool

8. Josh Solecki
Age 17, centre midfielder. Studying BTEC in Sport at Coombe Wood school. With Crystal Palace from under-10 to under-15, scored in the first six rounds of the FA Youth Cup this season.
Idol: Matt Le Tissier
Supports: Southampton

9. Foday Sesay
Age 17, centre-forward. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. Scored 11 goals in the FA Youth Cup this season and due to go on trial to Wycombe Wanderers.
Idol: Cristiano Ronaldo
Supports: Manchester United

10. Amari Perkins
Age 17, centre-forward. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. Previously had trials with AFC Wimbledon.
Idol: Erling Haaland
Supports: Arsenal

11. Jimmie Basquine
Age 16, left wing-back. Studying BTEC in Sport at London Nautical school. Previously had trials with Birmingham, Gillingham and Charlton.
Idol: Neymar
Supports: Chelsea

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In the training session, Bowry coaches team shape from the touchline while McKimm stations himself in the centre of the pitch to help the two strikers, Amari Perkins and Foday Sesay, with their positioning.

“That’s fine, not too far over,” McKimm says to the strikers as the second XI shift the ball patiently across the back, just as Chelsea did in the video.

So far, so good. But then a clever ball from the left-back Carter de Ste Croix releases a team-mate in behind the first XI strikers and in front of the midfield. “Well played, son,” Bowry says, quietly admiring the pass.

“Now jump on that!” McKimm shouts, imploring the midfielders to press and win the ball.

But their opponent has wriggled through.

“Two midfielders!” McKimm curses.

It feels like a reminder of how hard it is for coaches to get all the departments of a team functioning together tactically, let alone a group that only trains sporadically.

With darkness now falling and another session due to start, the players are called to the side of the pitch for a debrief. McKimm makes the point that both he and Bowry are just trying to help the Merstham players with their set-up out of possession to “stop Chelsea from hurting us”.

“But when we get the ball, we’ve got to be ourselves,” McKimm adds. “There’s no point getting this far and saying, ‘Yeah, we got to the fourth round and played Chelsea.’”

As the players prepare to head home, Josh Solecki approaches and asks if he can have a quick word following our interview earlier in the day. “Can I say one more thing, please?” he adds.

“Of course,” I reply.

“This FA Youth Cup run has been unforgettable and will be a memory for a lifetime.”

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The Merstham players have made their own way to some of the FA Youth Cup ties this season and a minibus has taken them on other occasions. On Wednesday afternoon, though, they are travelling in style. A plush 52-seater coach provided by Chelsea is parked outside Coombe Wood school in Croydon, ready to make the 15-mile journey across London at rush hour.

Upstairs in a canteen room at the school, the players talk giddily about the game, predicting the scoreline and wondering what it would be like to play Manchester United away – the potential prize for the winners – in the next round.

For 17-year-old Foday Sesay, who has scored 11 goals in the FA Youth Cup, there is an additional reason to impress this evening. “I’ve got people from my family coming to watch me – that’s the first time that’s happened,” he says. “My girlfriend is coming and my brother, so that’s why I’m really excited. I want to make sure I do something on the pitch that will get them to believe in what I can do and come to watch more games.”

Sesay could have been written off as a lost cause last season. He regularly skipped school and training and, by his own admission, “used to mess about a lot”. But Bowry refused to give up on him. “There were a few times where Bobby had to speak to me. He told me I was a really good player and that I had something that I didn’t know I had,” Sesay says.

Twelve months later, Sesay is about to go on trial with League One leaders Wycombe Wanderers and is preparing to face Chelsea. “I was thinking about this game all over the Christmas break,” he says, smiling.

It is clearly a huge occasion for the boys. When the team coach pulls through the gates at Kingsmeadow an hour and half before kick-off, a number of the Merstham players are so caught up in the moment that they forget to collect their bags from underneath the bus before walking down the corridor to the changing room.

Inside the visitors’ dressing room, it’s time to get serious. “Everyone turn their phones off,” Bowry says.

“I had 16 years of being able to do this on a daily basis. If you want this, and you want it to be your life, you have to make big sacrifices. Big sacrifices in terms of what you do daily and how you perform.”

Moving across to the tactics board, Bowry shifts the counters around into a defensive formation. “We could play like this today,” he adds. “We’re not going to do that. We’re going to play how we do, with a front two.

“These two, don’t have any fear,” Bowry says, pointing to the wing-backs, Luyanda Mafu and Jimmie Basquine. “You’re going to make mistakes. I’ll back you. Don’t attack them in straight lines, because they’re powerful. Attack them by going in and out, jinking.”

Bowry looks at the table in front of him, which is full of fruit, isotonic drinks, water bottles and a mixture of sweets high in sugar. “You’re getting looked after, you’re getting pampered. You look great. Now it’s work time,” he says. “I’ve come here to win. I’ve not come here to say, ‘Yeah, they’re a good team, they’re worth millions.’ Noooooo!’”

The clock is ticking. “Boys, 19 minutes and we’re going out,” says Darren Teague, the strength and conditioning coach. “Nobody wearing gloves unless you’re a goalkeeper. It’s mild tonight.”

As fans start to drift through the turnstiles and the players begin to warm up, Bowry and McKimm go back over the set pieces. They decide to leave two up on Chelsea corners, reasoning that it will limit the numbers that their opponents bring forward and also give Merstham an outlet if the ball is cleared.

McKimm runs through the individual set-piece roles with the players shortly before kick-off. But the time for talking about any other tactics has been and gone now.

Looking around at the substitutes, Bowry makes one final message as the bell sounds. “You’re so important to us,” he says. “We’re gonna need you. And we love you. Have the right mindset that when you come on, that you’re going to make a difference to the team.”

The bell rings for a second time and the players get up from their seats, cajole one another and walk down the tunnel, studs clattering and adrenaline pumping.

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“Merstham are massive everywhere they go!”

It doesn’t feel like a home game for Chelsea. There are more than 1,200 people inside Kingsmeadow and the majority of them are Merstham supporters. Several hundred are congregated behind the goal that Chelsea are attacking in the first half and determined to make themselves heard.

The fact that every player in the Chelsea starting XI has played for their country at age-group level, including Shumaira Mheuka, Kiano Dyer and Ollie Harrison, who have all been around the first team, is a sign of what Merstham are up against here.

Every block and challenge by a Merstham player in the first 10 minutes is met with huge cheers by their fans, who also take great pleasure in seeing a shot from Mheuka sail high over the bar. Unfortunately for Merstham, Mheuka provides the perfect riposte moments later when he drives into the penalty area and, after showing some dexterous footwork, taps into an empty net.

Bowry’s message remains the same from the restart. “Pass it!” he shouts, urging the Merstham players to be brave on the ball.

Chelsea are relentless, though, and attack with a mixture of pace, power and guile through their dynamic front three. Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, a direct and prolific left winger who scored a couple of outstanding goals for England Under-16s against Italy in August, doubles Chelsea’s lead. Leo Cardoso, their Portugal Under-19 international on the opposite flank, soon makes it 3-0.

Then comes a moment that takes the breath away. Receiving with his back to goal, Mheuka brings the ball down with neat close control, turns one way and then other, shrugging off his marker Chris Rangel in the process and, with minimal back-lift, drills a rising left-foot shot from 20 yards inside the near post.

If Mheuka’s first goal had shades of Cole Palmer about it with the way that he rolled his studs over the top of the ball, his second was straight out of the Didier Drogba playbook.

🚨 Chelsea’s 17-Year-Old Shumaira Mheuka goal tonight for his hat-trick

Stunning #CFC pic.twitter.com/7qZoIdkpuc

— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) January 15, 2025

There are only 32 minutes on the clock and it’s 4-0 to Chelsea. How on earth do Merstham respond?

The answer is as unexpected as it is magical. After finding a pocket of space, Chris Lutonadio slides a lovely disguised pass inside the Chelsea centre-back Emenalo to set Sesay free on goal. Sesay’s shot is repelled by the Chelsea goalkeeper but the loose ball falls kindly for Amari Perkins, who turns in the rebound. What a moment.

Cue huge celebrations at the opposite end of the ground and a reaction from Perkins that says everything about Merstham’s never-say-die attitude – the striker grabs the ball out of the back of the net and sprints back to put it on the centre spot. Are they seriously thinking about a comeback?

The half-time team-talk suggests it’s a long way from the coaches’ minds. Bowry and McKimm identify plenty of areas where Merstham can improve both with and without the ball. At the same time, there is praise for the team’s resilience and spirit.

“You know what I’m so happy about?” McKimm asks the players.

“We scored?” comes the reply.

McKimm nods. “There’s teams that would have folded at 4-0.”

Frustratingly, Merstham concede again at the start of the second half, when Mheuka converts from the spot to complete his hat-trick after the non-League team make a mistake trying to play out from the back.

Five quickly becomes six when Reggie Walsh heads home, but Merstham still refuse to lie down. The impressive Lutonadio plays another terrific through ball, this time between the two Chelsea centre-backs, to release the substitute Ashley Tshitenga, whose shot is turned around the post.

Although Harrison misses a late Panenka penalty that the excellent Nico Tero saves, a seventh goal arrives moments later.

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There are tired legs and long faces in the Merstham dressing room. The players look physically and emotionally drained.

“Please don’t be disappointed,” McKimm tells them. “You’ve put this academy on the map.”

The team – and one player in particular – is about to get a lift. Glenn van der Kraan, Chelsea’s academy director, asks if he can have a minute with the Merstham players in the dressing room.

“On behalf of Chelsea, I want to say a fantastic well done to all of you,” Van der Kraan says.

“You’re at the start of your journey in football, the same as the Chelsea kids. And even though they’ve had so many games like this, and you probably haven’t, everyone here hopefully has a dream to either become a professional player or to do something in the game.

“I was really proud of all of you. But there was one player for us, as staff, that jumped out, who was working hard and also showed some great technical things – that was No 4. So, on behalf of the Chelsea staff, I want to congratulate you on being player of the match.”

Van der Kraan hands over a Chelsea shirt to Lutonadio, who is given a round of applause by his team-mates.

Bowry steps outside to do a post-match interview where he talks about it being one of his best nights in football. A few minutes later, he returns to the dressing room to discuss what matters to him most: the next chapter for the boys.

“My biggest focus now is our destination: where are you going next? Because I can’t let this group just go to some caveman who is not going to educate and look after you in the right way,” he tells them.

Bowry turns to face Lutonadio, who is attracting interest from several Football League clubs. “Chris, I’m super proud of you, son, that the academy manager recognised your performance. You’ve come a long way. I thought we were going to lose you because you weren’t ‘with us’. You’ve had to change, and your change is going to give you possibly a change of lifestyle.”

Bowry smiles as he looks at the rest of the team.

“Keep your shirts,” he says. “I’m so proud of you all.”

(Photos: Austin Creative Consultancy and Flynn Whitelegg; design: Eamonn Dalton)