Misery (AFC Wimbledon 0 Darlington 2)

It’s not quite Halloween yet, but its close enough to expect a variety of puns from the mainstream Dons press after this performance, along the lines of it being a ‘Horror Performance’ where Darlington put ‘The Frighteners’ up the Dons before ‘Dumping Their Badly Mutilated Corpse On The Bank Of The Hogsmill’… The Dons weren’t beaten up in that manner by the visitors really, and were largely the creators of their own downfall. Oh, along with the pumpkin-headed clown in black, of course.

Such a clumsy introduction but not a million miles from the truth. There were rumours the ref was spotted in the car park before the game colouring in the white sections of his Darlington shirt with black marker pen before he could pass as a genuine official. Last week, Darlington were involved in a game where three members of the opposition were given their marching orders, to the point the local PA guy felt the need to berate him mid-action for ruining the game as a spectacle. If only we had such an enlightened announcer down at Kingsmeadow!

It’s certainly enough to get the conspiracy theorists among us wondering whether Darlington are intercepting the real match officials pre-game in order to plant their own ringer. Not a bad idea, if you ask me – we should create a working group post-haste in order to investigate the possibility of employing such a dastardly scheme ourselves (although the last time one of ‘us’ took over, albeit the line at Eastleigh a couple of years ago, it didn’t do us much good…).

Only joking of course, and apologies to Darlington for even suggesting there may have been some element of corruption behind their victory – but we have to find humour in defeat where ever we can. In fact the referee deserves credit for not allowing those dark glasses and stick to impede his movement around the pitch. Plus it must have been hard growing up without a father. And I hear he is highly regarded down at his local chapter of the Man/Boy Love Association. Et cetera, ad nauseam…

Moving on (briefly, I’ll undoubtedly refer back to the penis-lookalike in black later in the report), the ball isn’t really running for the Dons at the moment, is it? First Gateshead, where we were fortunate to rely on a set piece to break down awkward opponents. Then Basingstoke where a bunch of BSS part-timers almost took us to a replay before fitness, and another set piece, won us through. Todays game reminded me very much of the Forest Green game, unfortunately on this occasion there was no moment of magic to grab us a point…

We have to face the fact that, right now, we are at the base of a trough performance-wise. Plotting an imaginary graph in my head, I predict we will see at least a couple more mini-slumps before the season is out. Although the Inconsistencies Of Youth (which will probably turn out to be the title of our end-of-season DVD…) means this can’t be relied upon as an accurate indicator of future performance – we could quite easily demolish Ebbsfleet next week going unbeaten until Christmas (still some way off despite what the commercials on tv might have you believe…). More worrying is we are just as likely to be equally as crap as we were today until the end of the campaign.

We started well enough today, without creating any clear-cut chances. Unfortunately the visitors caught us with a goal after fifteen minutes, Chris Senior being gifted enough space to squirm the ball under Sebb Brown whilst being given the freedom of the penalty area by his obliging hosts. You have to bear in mind I was in the KRE and at pitch level, so when I say there was a suspicion of offside about the goal I’m merely voicing the opinion of others. I have no reason to doubt them, they were closer to the action than I was, and I await AFCWTV for some conclusive proof… awww, who am I kidding? I went through ninety minutes of frustration watching at the ground, I’m not going to waste another five minutes of my life browsing through the highlights.

If Senior was offside, it might explain why we was given so much room. He’s certainly what my dear departed gran would have referred to as ‘a tricky little cunt’, not someone who will cause you problems physically, possessing a frame that makes the likes of Ivor Heller realise he could have been a contender. But he knows where the goal is, that’s for damn certain, and we left him alone at our peril. If he wasn’t, fair enough, we were wronged, but those with a long memory will remember I defended the decision not to send Sebb Brown off for bringing Senior down during last years FA Trophy replay at home to Altrincham by suggesting Senior was ‘at least two yards offside’… then having to backtrack two days later upon being presented video evidence to the contrary. So I’m not touching this one…

Darlington were presented with a free kick shortly after, within shooting range and in an area that would have been regarded as dangerous… Had the visitors not completely screwed up what should have been a simple lay-off, allowing Danny Kedwell ample time to break from the wall and rob his dozy opponent. Yet somehow the referee saw this as a foul. If so he was the only person in the ground who did. At this stage, with angry Dons players bearing down on him and the crowd up in arms, he might have realised he had made a teeny tiny error. If he did, he obviously decided to just go along with it, and decided to stamp his authority by booking Kedwell. To paraphrase the gentleman a few yards down from me, he truly was a copulating visually impaired lady part…

As the half wore on, the Dons looked more like equalizing, without ever really testing the opposition. This was mainly down to first Sammy Moore, then Steven Gregory failing to take decent chances when presented them. It seems as though the Dons squad are putting on a production of The Nutcracker for the Christmas party, both Moore and Gregory are competing for the role of Sugar Plum Fairy, and each decided to encorporate elements of their audition while attempting to finish when well placed. Sadly. football and festive two-act ballet does not mix, a lesson both of them have now learned the hard way…

Sadly the Dons couldn’t immediately replicate the pressure they built at the end of the previous half as the second kicked off. Darlington actually looked pretty comfortable at this point, enough to bring on the man who has made a career at this level out of doing little more than backing in and getting the ball caught under his feet – Jefferson Louis. Immediately after the referee gave his next joke call of the afternoon, gifting the visitors a penalty for holding by Yakubu. No Darlington player thought to appeal, except one who started hurling abuse towards the referee, until he realised it wasn’t a Dons free kick, it was a penalty, and promptly decided to keep his mough shut.

Now Louis has a bit of previous with the Dons, as we remember him from last season where it turned out he wasn’t quite good enough to make the grade at a pre-moneyed Crawley. Presumably he was up all night working on his celebrations should he score, judging by the way he grabbed the ball before the penalty. Perhaps he thought a little too much though, as his sidefooted effort was a little too casual and Sebb Brown got down easily to block. Unfortunately it squirmed away from Brown, and with the Dons players flat footed Marc Bridge-Wilkinson slammed the rebound into the roof of the net.

The Dons were now stuck deep in a hole they didn’t look capable of digging themselves out of. They huffed and puffed throughout the remainder of the half, but it was the visitors who came closest to scoring late in the game when Brown pushed a header onto the bar. The home sides best chance of getting back into it revolved around a couple of ‘what might have been’ efforts – Jolley smashing into the side netting with team mates well positioned, and Sam Hatton tripped in the area and punished by – guess who – the referee, his crime being he tried to stay on his feet. How stupid of us! We failed to realise stonewall penalties are only given when players hurl themselves onto the deck these days.

Much as in the first half, Wimbledon looked more likely to score the longer the half went on, which was ironic in that the later they would have scored, the more meaningless it would have been. They failed to even pull one back in the end, which just made the news that Crawley had won 4-1 at Mansfield even more crushing. Days like today makes you wonder how we can possible challenge for the title come April…

Frustrations Of Youth (Darlington Preview)

As the mundanity of a football-free week comes to an end, the FA Cup makes way for the bread and butter of league football – albeit temporarily – as Darlington come down to the Meadow attempting to knock us off our perch. After last weeks disjointed performance at Basingstoke I’m not sure anyone would have minded too much if we had been taken back for a replay at Kingsmeadow on Tuesday in order to blow away a few cobwebs… well, maybe we would have minded if we ended up losing it, which taking the performance in the first game into account was probably quite likely…

Its been a tough week for the football community, what with the death of Paul the Octopus and all. Whats really been keeping me up at night is did he see it coming? If so how frustrating must his final few months have been, desperate to tell his captors of his impending demise by shuffling himself into various boxes… boxes for fuck sake! If ever an animal was trying to give us a message it was this, and we mistook it for some kind of score prediction service…

Meanwhile, back in the real world, some people are having difficulty determining what happened in the past let alone the future, judging by this article. Presumably the definition of the word ‘legal’ differs in Darlington from that used at Companies House, or indeed Soho Square. I’m sure most Dons fans will sigh and move on when faced with such inaccuracies, but I still get angry… stuff like this is going to follow us around for years to come. Ultimately though, you really don’t expect that kind of inflammatory article popping up on the website of a fellow Conference club, mere days before they visit for an important League game… I mean, do they not like warm welcomes or what?!!

Most of the ‘facts’ on offer seem to have come via Darren Holloway, which is annoying, because although sometimes it seems as though footballers are Professional Thick Bastards just doing what their agents tell them and following the money, not all of them are like that… not by a long shot. The behaviour of WFC players at the time and since have gone a long way towards showing us that. But for every Neal Ardley there seems to be a Holloway, for every Kevin Cooper The First there is a Dean Holdsworth… Kudos also needs to go to the ‘journalist’ who went to the trouble of checking the facts before sticking the story online… oh, no wait, he didn’t bother. In that case I won’t bother checking to see if he is indeed a boneheaded lazy sister-fucker before I brand him as such on this esteemed bloggy-type thing…

On to the football, and the Dons will once again look towards the combined talents of Ed Harris and Fraser Franks should Yakubu fail to overcome a niggly shoulder injury. As Yakubu looks like the sort of bloke who walks through barn doors without bothering opening them first you sometimes forget he does occasionally hurt himself, and would be a big miss despite the fantastic form of the younger partnership in key games earlier in the campaign.

One big decision Brown has to make is whether to go for continuity and include Andre Blackman in the lineup or revert to Chris Bush, banished from playing in cup games in case Brentford need to call him up later in the season. Bush will be absent next week which is a huge tick in the Blackman box, but… I’m probably Andre’s biggest fan with the possible exception of his mum, but he didn’t quite do enough last week, did he? To be fair, no-one was good enough at Basingstoke, which was a really bizarre performance in that despite individually being a pile of steaming cattle dung we still came away with a result. Yet Andre would have finished the game had he not picked up an injury, which explains his bench belting routine upon leaving the field – in one moment showing more passion in than the rest of the team combined over the course of the entire day (although I’m fairly sure I saw Sam Hatton clench his fist at one point). Another tick in the Andre box…

Further up the field and it looks as though it will be same again for the front three. The two wide boys are doing well, especially Jackson, but in the last couple of games top scorer and chief goal creator Danny Kedwell has displayed the sort of touch that makes Ivan Klasnic look like a tender lover in comparison. However, if there is one player who you can rely on to come back stronger than ever its the captain, and it’s not as if there are options on the bench. Jon Main just can’t seem to catch a break at the moment after pondering whether he should leave the club on loan earlier in the week, which is probably still a step ahead of Mark Nwokeji, who appears certain to head out on loan whenever we can find another Conference club willing to spend a month or so getting him fit enough to play for us.

Luke Moore has emerged as the leading contender to fill in the forward line where required, but he is being touted to take over Ricky Wellard’s midfield position after the youngsters (hang on… they’re all young…) obvious concentration issues blighted his last few performances. Wellard is the epitome of the frustrations of youth, ghosting past men and playing the sort of killer through ball the average player just isn’t capable of one moment, drifting out of position or gifting possession cheaply the next – very often in the same game, occasionally even in the same passage of play. You get the impression if he can make it past these teething troubles he will be a fixture in the Dons midfield for the best part of the next decade, so long as he isn’t Husseyed away from us in the meantime. Another contender for the midfield position is Rashid Yussuff, the Zidane of the Conference – but only when he is introduced to the action from the substitutes bench… when given a start he may as well come and join us in the stands for all the impact he makes.

Darlington will put up a decent fight, albeit in the same manner as Forest Green or Histon did. Don’t get me wrong, their average supporter is slightly more clued up than the turnip who defecated out that interview with Holloway, these are supporters who have seen the sharp end of footballs stick bear down on their exposed backsides, almost, almost reaching the stage where mismanagement and downright hard luck lead to them exploring the option of creating their own club. Stuck out-of-town in a vast arena (I’m not describing it as soulless just yet as I won’t be visiting until January, although many more have done), it doesn’t exactly encourage the walk-up fan… lets not discount the impact that having many thousands of people living within a twenty-minute walk of Kingsmeadow has had on our attendances. I consider Darlington to be every bit as big a club as the Dons, perhaps more so – we have no idea what effect a consistent period of mundane mid-table action would have on our attendances, and Darlington’s location has effectively turned them into a big club without the big crowds to back them up.

I saw some photographs of Feethams about six months ago which seemed to suggest there is a lot of it still standing, which must rankle with Darlington supporters who I presume miss the place a great deal. I was having a conversation with a fellow Don during the Basingstoke game relating to the toilet facilities serving the West Bank, specifically their ability to turn day into night and pre-match burgers into chunder. No matter how sanitized and clean new stadiums are, they are also increasingly mundane, shiny symbols of footballs lost soul, especially the ones where thousands of empty gleaming seats stare back at you, one final taunt at misplaced ambition.

The Anonymous Don line-up guestimate – Brown; Hatton, Yakubu, Harris, Bush; Gregory, Moore (S), Moore (L); Jackson, Kedwell, Jolley

Helen Chamberlain And Norman Cook Have Given Us…

Ebbsfleet at home.

Although there was something of a cock-up when it was initially announced we would be playing ball 18, Exeter City, despite already having been drawn. Experienced broadcaster Jim Rosenthal eventually announced the correction, as I began to wonder whether the Devonians would be sending their reserves…

Yet Ebbsfleet it is. A quick return for them after their relegation last season, and a quicker return for Paul Lorraine and Derek Duncan, along with former Dons triallist Callum Willock. Its not exactly a draw thats going to get the casual Dons fan out of their sofa, but it is more than winnable and allows a decent chance of progression to the Second Round. Plus ITV are currently following Ebbsfleet on their Road To Wembley, which means the game should be featured on their highlights show beyond just showing the goals – it’ll be ‘special report’ rather than extensive highlights, but if we win that coverage will follow us into the next round. At least we won’t find ourselves playing on a Monday this time around…

The Magic Failed To Make It (Basingstoke 0 AFC Wimbledon 1)

It’s too much, sometimes, to expect a game to live up to the expectations you place on it beforehand. I was torn beforehand between this turning out that the Dons turned up focused and romped to victory (baiting the Football Gods albeit) or a pulsating cup tie where the Dons ran out victors by the odd goal in plenty. In truth, it was neither, in fact it barely qualified as a football match… but still Wimbledon won. We now go through to the First Round Propa, with all the excitement and nervousness that brings.

Not that I wasn’t nervous or excited before this one, I was. But that pretty much evaporated within the first quarter-hour or so, as neither side showed they possessed the ability to take charge of the game, or even string more than a couple of passes together before tamely returning the ball to their opponents, or simply knocking it out of play. Perhaps that is unfair, the Dons did create a couple of openings in the first half, a Kedwell shot that might have been goal-bound had it not struck a Basingstoke mans arm on the way through (the myopic linesman on the dugout side was having none of it…), and Ricky Wellard wriggled through before slipping when well positioned… In fact a few slipped over on a pitch that seemed neither one thing or another – it was slick and relatively short, but seemed pretty thick and held the ball up on occasions.

Not that either side had much of an excuse, this was dire stuff. You know its a poor game when the off-field conversation turns away from the match and on to ever more random topics. In fact it was a strange atmosphere really, the Dons fans were strung around three sides of the pitch and there was no one area that focussed on getting chants and songs started, if it hadn’t been so cold it could have passed for a pre-season game. The Magic of the FA Cup is still alive and kicking, but I’m not sure which courier the FA use but The Magic failed to make it to this match.

Enough Dons players were switched on enough to ensure Basingstoke’s threat remained a remote one, and poor finishing  let the hosts down badly, although to be fair the Dons restricted them to efforts from range. Going forward it wasn’t quite happening for Christian Jolley down the left, Ryan Jackson was having more luck on his flank. To the point that at one point an esteemed fellow blogger voiced his concern that we overuse him. I thought about that a bit, and although that might seem so on days like today we do like to use both flanks and you can’t expect both young players to deliver every time. There have been occasions when Jolley has looked the bigger threat, and you have to remember Ryan is fortunate to have the impeccable Sam Hatton backing him up.

Jolley had Andre Blackman behind him, and did Andre take his opportunity with both hands? Erm… Actually ‘Erm…’ is probably an acceptable answer under these circumstances, Basingstoke didn’t overly test him this afternoon but he put in a couple of solid challenges, one of which saw him pick up a minor knock. He didn’t pick up a booking, nor looked like getting one (although you never know with Andre…), and showed no sign before that of the red mist descending. Yet because of the knock he was withdrawn late in the second half, much to his great annoyance. Yes, he took his frustrations out on the bench (that is the physical bench rather than those sitting on it…), but that because he knows he probably didn’t do enough to guarantee himself a start against Darlington next Saturday. He’ll get another chance in R1 though…

One performance I do need to pick out is that of Sebb Brown. On a day when he wasn’t really tested he showed excellent concentration and alertness on the occasions he was called into action, and his decision-making on high balls is coming into its own. Sticking high balls into the box has been the undoing of many a young keeper (including the Anonymous Don…), Sebb knows he can’t come for everything, and he can’t catch every ball he does come for. Last season, without the confidence that comes from being Number One for club and country, he may have flapped at a few of those balls, but today we saw a couple of well-timed punches, the ball ending up far from the danger area.

A less limited team would have caused us problems today, we could have had it a lot tougher undoubtedly, but we should be grateful for our victory. In effect it’s all we can ask for from our side in cup competition – especially the most important of them all. It won’t be a game that will live long in the memory, it didn’t need to be, but it gives us the opportunity of games that certainly will…

Keep The Shirt (Basingstoke Preview)

I started this preview for the Basingstoke game a day earlier than usual, because the sponsors kindly decided to release the demo version of their 2011 game, and I know what would have happened… I would have download it, opened it up to have a ‘quick look’ and end up being found by my family five days later still in the same clothes, unwashed, suffering from malnutrition and the early stages of mental illness caused by sleep deprivation. Its a good job the wife isn’t around as its safe to say no housework will be getting done for a few weeks…

I’ve got to say I’m not really into computer games, and haven’t been since I was a kid and the first Championship Manager game came out, consigning all other games to the dustbin via several years in the cupboard gathering dust. I know its a bit of a cliche to go on about its addictiveness, but if you’ve never played the game before it’s fair to say you’ll probably be doing yourself a favour by leaving it well alone…

We’ve heard the stories of grown men (and women) finding social lives, relationships, even marriages cast out of the window because of it, and I think many of the more extreme stories are embellished by the publisher for publicity reasons… but I still know people who remember with great fondness winning the European Cup when they were teenagers – what other pastimes create moments that live with you for decades after such as this?

So while I still have the ability to write, lets talk Basingstoke. Will the magic of the FA Cup encorage a vast travelling army of Dons down the M3/South West Mainline to cheer our boys into the First Round? Well, maybe, but the fact that it’s a rare(ish) local(ish) encounter should be enough to see a more than healthy travelling contingent. For more than obvious reasons the FA Cup will always hold a special place in the hearts of Dons fans of a certain age, but the 4QR doesn’t hold the same air of mystery it did when we invaded Sittingbourne and Crawley en-masse. Been there, done that, been destroyed by the powerhouse team running away with promotion two divisions above us in the next round…

In fact, you wonder whether we might be heading for a bit of a fall here. Our captain has been idly discussing who he would like to play in the next round with the local press. The WUP guestbook has pondered a potential tie with Them in the next round – in fact even I considered jumping on the bandwagon with an article about it until I remembered we have to actually beat Basingstoke first… Lets not forget, while Dons sides in the past have revelled in the underdog tag we haven’t exactly been immune to the boot being on the other foot occasionally. I mean, who seriously thought we would lose at home to Workington in last years Trophy?

OK, this is a very different Dons sde to the overpaid and over rated part-timers of last term. But the fact is, for all their brilliance so far in the League, the current squads limited FA Cup experience in most cases hasn’t stretched as far as being such overwhelming favourites for such an important tie away from home. You wonder what it’s doing to their heads, for all the managers insistance they treat it with the seriousness it deserves will they even subconsiously lose focus, for long enough for it to be fatal and Important Lessons end up being learnt the hard way?

Ultimately the attitude certain young players show will decide whether its a comfortable victory or a nervy afternoon. And perhaps more than any of them, the performance of Andre Blackman could be key to our chances. Its probably pretty obvious that Andre is a far more technically gifted footballer than Chris Bush, for all the promise Bush has shown in his short spell at the club. And yet, Bush is starting games and Andre isn’t. Its a simple fact that if you are a full back then no matter how many players you can beat, how many impressive tricks you can use to bamboozle the opposition… if you can’t do the simple things right – defend solidly, concentrate at all times, clear your lines when under pressure – then the guy who can will get to play instead of you.

Andre now has the chance to show what he’s learnt from his time on the bench thanks to Bush’s enforced absence, and if he performs he will keep the shirt. I’m sure this is something he is very much aware of going into Saturday, as will Jon Main, Luke Moore, etc. One huge boost is the news Steven Gregory looks like being fit, as I mentioned after Saturdays game I feel he is every bit as important as Kedwell in terms of our ambitions for the season – if we can keep those two fit we will go a long way.

Before I go just a quick congratulations to The Youth, who progressed in their version of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Wealdstone – Maidstone or Dartford await them in the First Round proper, and once again The Youth are giving the senior boys a run for their money over which Dons side will play on a Premier League ground first…

Big Three Points (AFC Wimbledon 1 Gateshead 0)

I’ve just finished the Minithon… well, I finished about three hours ago, but I’ve finally regained enough mobility to pick up the laptop in order to write this. Congratulations to everybody else who ran, as well as all those helpers who ensured the event was a success. Although none of them went to the lengths of massaging my aching feet, or indeed aching ego, as the majority of the field finished several minutes before me…

The Dons victory the day before probably helped too, in its own small way. The Gateshead game was the epitome of hard-fought, determined opponents who pretty much ran themselves into the ground and very nearly succeeded in dragging ourselves down with them. The situation wasn’t helped by Wellard and Kedwell just not being in the game for long periods; Wellard was hindered by an injury, did his best, but ultimately probably only remained on the pitch thanks to a more serious knock picked up by Steven Gregory… which actually turned out to be quite fortunate for the Dons.

When I say Kedwell wasn’t in the game, I don’t mean he had a bad game as such, although he did frustrate on a couple of occasions by dropping deep to pick the ball up then promptly losing it. Further down the pitch the Gateshead back line were doing a pretty decent job of nullifying his impact… Just a bad day at the office, though it wasn’t for lack of effort. On his day no side in this division could stop him, and he’s had enough of those type of games for us to forgive a months worth of quiet games.

Ricky Wellard on the other hand, hasn’t exactly reached that level of untouchability yet, which you would expect as he is a young player. Wellard normally contributes way more positives than negatives, yet as we now know he was carrying a knock at the time. Even a minor niggle would be enough to play on his mind, which might explain away his distracted performance. On a couple of occasions he frustrated when finding in space to fire a shot in from the edge of the box but instead passing the opportunity to a team-mate leading to the move breaking down, especially discouraging as time began to run out. Yet he almost gave the Dons the lead, ghosting into the box to get on the end of a perfect Hatton cross only to see his header bounce off the post with the Gateshead keeper well beaten (ironically this came seconds after Gateshead also struck the woodwork from a diving header…)

Yet it was to be Wellard who delivered the ball that finally unlocked the Gateshead back line, and they hadn’t learnt to pick players up. Yakubu’s well-timed run was picked out by Ricky, and made it look easy guiding the ball into the right corner. This proved enough to see off an impressive Gateshead team, I have no doubt they will make things as hard for our promotion rivals as they have already proven by being a minute or so from taking a point from Crawley. Hell, they could even find themselves an outside bet for the playoffs if they keep up that kind of performance level…

Elsewhere, the loss of Gregory could have been more serious had the fixtures given us Tuesday/Saturday for the next couple of weeks. Sammy Moore did a great job of filling in, but we missed his darting little runs in and around the oppositions box, and he did get caught out a couple of times, Terry screaming at him to hold his position after the Dons were almost caught by a three on three break. I rate Gregory so highly I would go so far as to say I don’t think we have another midfielder who can play his role anywhere near as effectively. In that respect he is like Kedwell – if he’s not there, even if he’s not on form, we miss him.

Ultimately the Dons were worthy of their victory, only just. The differences between the two sides was in the detail, this was a big three points to pick up. A win that has taken us back to the top of the table, a win that keeps us there for at least the next fortnight… Now the distraction of the FA Cup, albeit a tricky trip to Basingstoke, more on that later in the week…

What Experience Tells Us

A long football-free week has finally passed… I suppose there was the England game, but no – I’ll stick with football-free. The two victories on the road last week – one fantastic, one fortunate – should really have put us all in a really confident mood of returning to the top of the table going into tomorrows game against Gateshead. During the week, however, Terry Brown took steps to check the supporters confidence in an interview with the local Guardian…

In no way, shape or form did I expect this group of young lads to gel so quickly or start turning in the performances that they have. What experience tells us though is that there will be a period where we lose games and we lose confidence. I have to make sure that we have enough experience and know-how in the side to deal with that, as it will definitely happen.

This was followed up by confirmation at Wednesday’s SGM that our playing budget this season is indeed similar to that estimated by the NLP in August – if there was a league table of budgets the Dons would probably be around lower mid-table. Certainly this was a sensibly timed announcement… I can’t help but think confidence levels among the fanbase have skyrocketed  to unrealistic levels.

It’s fair to say this blog has been more than guilty of cranking up the hype, and really who can blame any of us for getting excited?! Its been a fantastic and highly unexpected start to the season… but we have only given ourselves a great chance of achieving the unlikely. Sitting second in the table generated a number of reports in the national media celebrating our imminent return to the Football League – with little club news floating about during a quiet international week, you can’t blame editors looking down the tables and spotting a good news story to fill a bit of space. But we are second with thirty games to go, not three… nothing has been decided yet.

Which is why Brown had to act. At least the last two visiting managers to Kingsmeadow have mentioned how the home crowds expectations can be turned against us, and that certainly worked for Forest Green after their early goal a couple of weeks ago. We hadn’t got on the players backs or started hurling abuse, far from it… we didn’t need to. The disappointment leaked onto the pitch, making our young side think twice about everything they did… and ended up fortunate to scrape a draw. So there’s no surprise that Ian Bogie has been saying similar on the Gateshead website… Our two victories would have given the side a great deal of confidence, so hopefully this will continue into tomorrows game.

We are fortunate that our three England C internationals (plus Reece Jones) have returned without injury – you do wonder whether the recent run of games may have affected their stamina slightly, but they are young enough to cope with it – and the remainder of the squad are hopefully refreshed after a weeks rest. We should see an unchanged side (so no point me guessing it!)… here’s hoping we go into our cup game with another victory in the bag…

The Minithon Looms…

I was looking for an excuse to get a bit more sporty. Since my football playing days came to an end a few years back, I had no reason to stay in shape. So I let myself go a bit, for a treat… then let myself go a bit more… now I’m at a stage where belts are completely unneccessary as my ever-expanding arse does the job of holding up even the most generously cut trousers…

This had to stop, and it had to stop quickly. I need to get into Good Habits before I hit the land of the six pound burger (especially as that seems like a challenge I could quite easily manage. I’ll just have a few beers first to get myself warmed up…). Also, it’s a more physical life over there… if I was asked to shovel three feet of snow off a drive tomorrow I’d wilt, and I can’t be letting the side down by looking like a weak Englishman…

A quick aside… I was informed that when I get to New Hampshire I should join the local City of Concord Adult soccer league. I thought to myself  ‘Good stuff, I could do with getting back into playing the game’. My enthusiasm wasn’t tamed by finding out the league was seven a-side (smaller pitch, less running!) or even that it was co-ed (in other words, men and women play together) as over there the women’s teams are just as good as the mens, and besides, at my age I’m only playing for fun anyway… Then I realised I would miss this season which runs from early-September to… erm… mid-October. Back to the drawing board there…

So I’m kick-starting the fitness campaign and helping the Ground Fund (and some very worthy charities…) by competing in the Minithon on Sunday… Although when I say ‘compete’ I very much mean its me versus the course. Having said that I wouldn’t mind pipping my fellow Dons blogger Maliniok to the line, although adding a competitive element could lead to heart attacks all round…

I won’t ask you all for sponsorship. I was only aiming to do my bit, and along with my family my employers have generously agreed to throw a cheque in the Dons Trust direction. On top of this I was sent some tips on increasing sponsorship, which advised creating a money-box to increase the sum raised with small change contributions. So I spent an hour or so of my employers time manufacturing one from a recycled Amazon package… and so far, it is unfortunately still empty!

Still, if you’re unlucky, you may find me waving it under your nose come Saturday pre-match against Gateshead. The three-mile course is clever as it’s just short enough to encourage people like me to enter, while still being long enough to make potential sponsors think your slightly mad for attempting it for now apparent personal gain…

Three miles really isn’t that far… is it?

Pretty Underwhelming Trip

The draw for the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round gave the Dons… a pretty underwhelming trip to Basingstoke. At first I thought ‘Great, it’s a straight shot on the train from Surbiton…’, until I remembered the walk through endless shopping malls, down a seemingly never-ending road and over a major road junction. It’s a good job I’m doing the Minithon, I’m going to need the fitness (or maybe get a cab this time round?).

All things considered, the draw could have been worse – we avoided our Conference rivals, although probability suggested as most of them are based in The North and the draw is still regionalised we would have been unfortunate to pull out a Luton or a Crawley. We also missed out on real potential banana skins, I’m thinking away to Bromley/Chelmsford, Dover or Dartford, places where the locals would turn up in real numbers and make things tough for us. You get the impression that even a disinterested Dons fanbase will more than match the local turnout on the day…

And yet, it could have been better. A home draw against a Ryman League side would have been nice… Basingstoke are the sort of team who can cause problems for us by getting right in our faces and turning the occasion into a Proper Cup Tie. With a sprinkling of Cup Magic we might be on the wrong end of an upset. No fielding weakened sides here – we are going to have to put out a full strength eleven firing on all cylinders to ensure our place in the First Round… even then anything less than full commitment could see us dragged back to Kingsmeadow for a replay… or possibly worse…

Basingstokes home form hasn’t really set the division alight so far with two wins, two defeats and a draw, but as we all know anyone driving down the A339 past the ground best avoid the Form Book, as its going to go flying out the window come kick off time…

Our last visit was quite early in our BSS promotion season – I vaguely remember it should have been a complete hammering, but the Dons ended up holding on for a 1-0 win. My only other recollection was the outside of the ground reminded me vaguely of walking past the old South Stand at Plough Lane, but this may have been because it’s also painted yellow and blue…

There have been a couple of links between the two clubs already this year, although Basingstoke haven’t had much luck with either of them… Ross Montague signed for them over the summer following his release, only to promptly damage his knee ending his season (and lets keep our fingers crossed not his career?). Then last month young striker Delano Sam-Yorke went for a loan spell, but ended up getting sent-off in his first game…

I mentioned yesterday how the FA Cup is quite favourable towards Conference clubs like ourselves… we only need to win this game to get to the First Round and potential windfall (as well as a share of the replays pot). We need a good run this year to keep our name on people’s lips, remind our local public and floating support that we are on the verge of something great… decent FA Cup runs don’t normally result in a long-term growth in league attendances, but every bit of publicity helps… Basingstoke won’t be a walkover but a win should be expected…

A Little Wrexham Reaction…

I’ve caught up with goings on at the Racecourse Ground yesterday, and I am very pleased with what I have been hearing. After our recent run of good performance/bad performance I was dreading another defeat. Which is exactly what we seemed to be heading towards at half time yesterday. Another poor showing after the spectacular victory at Mansfield, and I’m sorry but potential champions do not lose games the have played poorly in… they win them. So our second half comeback fills me with a great deal of hope.

Dean Saunders didn’t seem very happy, did he? You would think he had been in the game long enough to realise it is goals that win games, not performances. In the past,we have seen AFC Wimbledon teams dominate games and not get their just rewards, so it’s nice for the boot to be on the other foot for a change. Plus if any further justification were needed over the importance of being a full-time professional outfit, it was our greater fitness going into the closing stages… we didn’t need a vote or SGM to decide this, we just needed to do it – and it could be the difference between us stagnating in mid-table with some of last seasons underachievers, or battling for promotion, all season long (hopefully not meekly quitting in March…).

By the way, has anyone read the interview with Sebb Brown in the NLP today? Doesn’t it make you proud, that one of ‘us’ is now regularly lining up for the side as we close in on achieving League status? This blog gave Brown some stick when he first joined the club, to be fair he looked nowhere near good enough in his early pre-season performances… but he’s really worked hard, and while he still has plenty of work to do to become a Football League goalkeeper, I am now one of his biggest fans – and if he can complete that type of turnaround, surely there is nothing in the game he can’t achieve?!!

The next week gives us a much-needed rest until Gateshead on Saturday, when attention diverts to the FA Cup (the Fourth Qualifying Round Draw is on Monday – tune in to this blog for exclusive reaction!). Not the best timing when it seems we could be developing a championship charge, but I am a massive sucker for the FA Cup, and more than any other division we have played in so far, Conference clubs are less hindered… a trip to the Third Round, the Non-League equivalent of winning the thing, only requires a minimum of four games…