Arsenal's under-18s progressed to the semi-finals on Tuesday with an impressive home win in defence of their trophy.

To all our shame it's been largely overlooked what with momentous events happening this week in Munich and Lancaster Gate. In our defence, even the official site seems to have kept it quiet. Anyway, here's a second-half report sent in by Graham Stone:

"Arsenal won 2-0 with goals by Sidwell (60) and Aladiere (85). After the first five minutes of the second period which saw a couple of fumbles by our keeper, Arsenal dominated the second half. Sidwell opened the scoring volleying home a cross from Jerome Thomas. A brilliant run from midfield and excellent finish. Aladiere scored a brilliant individual goal running 20 yards, beating a couple and then firing home from just outside the box to wrap up the tie."

"I didn't have a teamsheet so I may have got the names wrong but the really impressive individuals for me were the number 6 centre half Svard (I think) who was outstanding, number 2 Israel and 4 Sidwell. 11 Thomas also has a lot of talent but is a frustrating player."

"Attendance was diappointingly sparse (less than 500)"

Graham missed the first half, but there's a full report on AFCi, which confirms that the win was well deserved. And the good news for Graham is that he definitely saw the best bits. The first half was more "physical and scrappy", the highlight being a superb 6th minute penalty save by the Villa keeper. See also Youth team page for team details.

Official attendance was 651, slightly more than Graham's estimate but not a lot less disappointing. We'll try to remember to advertise the semi a bit more.

Arsenal will face Ipswich in the semi. They beat Forest 2-1 last night. The other semi is between Liverpool and Blackburn.