AFC Wimbledon’s young guns are best side Chelsea have faced in recent years, so says the Blues U18s manager.

Joe Edwards sent the Dons’ U18s coach Mark Robinson a text the morning after the 4-1 FA Youth Cup defeat on Tuesday night.

The Dons had pushed the Premier League giants all the way, and only two goals in the final 10 minutes, including one deep in injury time, put an unfavourable slant on the final scoreline.

Having disposed of both Watford and Newcastle United form the top flight, the Dons had attracted a huge following, and almost 3,500 fans turned out to see if they could topple the cup holders.

After falling behind to a Fiakyo Tomori header, the Dons rallied and striker Alfie Egan stunned the Blues with the equaliser before half-time.

Chelsea regained the lead through the first of sub Jacob Maddox’s two goals, and he made it 3-1 with 84 minutes on the clock, before a Mukhtar Ali free-kick sealed the Dons fate.

Edwards texted Robinson: “Just wanted to say well done…your boys gave us a tougher challenge than many of the others we’ve faced in recent years and that is all credit to you all.

“I thought 4-1 was harsh! There’s a massive difference in quality of the players and that of-ten shows and we end up turning teams over easily, but last night you made a proper game of it.

“Good luck for the rest of the season, mate.”

Despite the plaudits, Robinson is not getting carried away.

“It was nice to get the message, but I don’t want to pat ourselves on the back too much – we don’t have the money or resources to get where we want to be, and we need to work out how to do that,” he said.

“If we get carried away after the Chelsea game, we could start thinking we have made it, when that is not the case.

“Yes, we’ve held our own against Chelsea for 80 minutes, but how do we do that for 90 minutes?”

He added: “I am our own biggest critic, but I have to take the positives when you think we have pushed the very best all the way.”

Robinson will not let his players get ideas above their station, and they will be told in no doubt that they need to focus on more than one night in front of 3,500 fans.

He said: “If we played at that level more often, perhaps it would change, but for now the lads have to focus on earning their pro-contracts.

“We’ll have a meeting later this week, talk about what we did well and what we could have done better, but they need to look at the bigger picture – and that is turning pro.”