Debacle

Firstly, an apology as there hasn’t been much writing going from the Anonymous Don these last few days. This would happen to coincide with a particularly heavy period of on field action… unfortunately I have suffered from an ear infection which didn’t really make me feel like doing anything – one of the downsides of being a one man operation is life has a nasty habit of getting in the way. In a couple of weeks service will suffer once more as I move house (those counting will by now have worked out this is the fourth move in the two-year life span of this blog…), therefore losing broadband for a couple of weeks.

So now I have a little catching up to do, and the left side of my face is still doing its Elephant Man impression I have a feeling its going to be short… Firstly, last Saturday. Theres not too much you can add to what has already been said apart from it really goes to show the gap in class between the top and bottom of this division. To be honest the Dons looked poor in the first half, a move up to second gear after the break was enough to see the Dons comfortably home but you got the impression there was plenty in the tank come final whistle.

Beyond that, Jamie Stuart’s enthusiastic reaction at the final whistle got my vote, as well as James Mulley comfortably outstripping a flagging Southport side in the final minute before clipping home his second expertly – pretty much summing up the differences between semi-pro and full-time clubs in the space of thirty seconds. Also, we got to see the rare sight of the supporters playing their part in the performance… last year the Tempest End pretty much won us a point after their Frank Sinclair baiting against Wrexham, but you don’t see it very often as even players several divisions below ours are on the whole pretty good at ignoring the crowd. This time round the ‘limited’ Southport defender Earl Davis was the one to suffer, after nodding a clearance into touch under no pressure a section of home fans questioned whether this was in fact the first time Davis had seen a football. Obviously that played on his mind as the quick throw fell to Nwokeji, and his desperate lunge scythed down the forward, gifting the Dons a penalty.

I can’t really comment on the Bath debacle, as I wasn’t there. I wasn’t even particularly listening to WDON either, at least in the second half – it was on in the background but, and perhaps this was slightly arrogant, I kind of presumed that at 2-0 playing (with all due respect for a side that ultimately battled back for a well deserved point) the sort of side you would expect to have gone on and beaten under those circumstances.

As for tomorrow, well Gateshead are picking up a bit of form and it won’t be easy, we all know that. I’m not going to be one of the small group heading north, and in fact if I don’t manage to make it down to Kingsmeadow to watch on the big screen, I might even think of doing another one of those live blogs for the occasion… I haven’t had a chance to watch a Dons game on tv (I’ve always been at the game…) so it will actually be quite novel…