Exeter City 2 AFC Wimbledon 1

Game five of my personal pre-season and it threw up one of those moments my non-football friends hold up as an example of the madness of following my team around the country… I missed our only goal as I was returning from the gents at the time. So just to pre-warn you, there will be a Jon Main goal shaped hole in this report unless someone posts a shaky mobile phone clip on youtube within the next hour or so…

While we are on the subject of poor match reports, I was in a bit of a distracted mood yesterday as my on-off move to the States looks back on again as of the end of this season. Naturally this, on the whole, is a good thing; but there are large parts of my life in England that I’ll miss. My family and friends, obviously, but watching the Dons will be irreplaceable. I could go and watch my new local side New England Revolution during the summer (I commented before on how watching them play in the vast Gillette Stadium reminds me of the early years of sub 6,000 crowds at Selhurst – although that’s not really a good thing). The big problem is the Revolution won’t be my team, and neither will the Bruins, Celtics or Patriots… I suppose I am fortunate in that friends of mine in New Hampshire share the sort of relationships I have with the Dons with their own beloved Red Sox, meaning at least there are people there who understand my own obsession.

It was my first visit to Exeter for fifteen years (and my first ever for football reasons…), and being Cheapo Cheaperson himself I booked the early train to save money – meaning I had at least four hours to explore the place before the next Dons fans showed up. I actually lived in Devon for a couple of years myself back during my Failed University Experiment and loved the place, albeit I lived in Plymouth and therefore I’m undoubtedly offending both our hosts and Janners by comparing the two cities…

I got to see slightly more of the city than most Dons fans as my train stopped at Exeter St Davids, a twenty-minute walk further down the road… I really should check the location of the stations I’m going to before I book in future… I would be rubbish if I lived outside London – think how many stations we have…

As for the game itself, well a few pre-game pints meant I arrived , ironically, a few seconds late. We had been allocated the normal away seating section and not the terrace, presumably to cut down on stewarding costs, and we actually did a pretty good job of filling it with around 200 Dons in attendance. Well I say 200, there were at least a couple of Dons who initially found themselves in the home terrace – flag emblazoned with AFC Wimbledon – Wearside and all… and despite seemingly going unnoticed by the home fans, were eventually marched round to watch from behind pillars and the low roof like the rest of us had to…

Exeter look like they might be preparing for the away end to have some kind of work done to it, certainly they now have the room to increase it in size or at least steward it a little easier. From my vantage point high in the stand I couldn’t help noticing the state of the pitch, which seemed to be scorched in places, but still thick enough to hold the ball up when played on the deck. Having said that, we will play on surfaces that are far from the lush bowling green that is the Kingsmeadow pitch in the coming few months…

The game had barely settled before after a promising Dons opening, Exeter took the lead. This was particularly frustrating as the Dons were looking promising, like they were really going to make a game of it, then capitulated to a piece of defending which… well, I suppose the nicest thing I can say about it is at least it was made in a meaningless warm-up rather than when points were at stake. The finish from Nardiello was tidy enough, but it’s fair to say he would have been closed down a bit quicker most times in a League One fixture, as Dons defenders stared at each other like quizzical puppies.

But the Dons were not only holding their own, but providing the sort of test I’m sure Exeter boss Paul Tisdale must have hoped we would. Of course, now I would normally describe how Jon Main equalised, but all I have to say on the subject is that due to the strange acoustics of the old stand we were housed in, the only sound that could be heard in the gents were Terry Brown and Simon Bassey barking out instructions. I say I was in the Gents when we scored (what was the Gents like? Dated, as you would expect, but with a great view over the terraced houses behind…), but I was actually climbing the steps back to the away section, which made it even more frustrating… I could actually join in with the end of the celebrations…

In terms of our line-up, It was pretty much first choice with a couple of exceptions – despite Christian Jolley’s decent form Blackman will be preferred at left back if fit, and Steven Gregory should be preferred to Sammy Moore, despite a standout performance from the former Dover man. Ryan Jackson’s continuing improvement has perhaps put a question mark against who will start up front with Main and Kedwell… Jackson acts as a winger when in this position, and worked extremely well with Sam Hatton again yesterday. On the other flank, Jon Main is more effective playing almost on Kedwells shoulder, something that encourages Jolley to get forward with regularity.

Which is why we seem to be putting a lot more crosses in than the same stage last season… and the balls themselves are of a much better quality too. Which when you have the presence of a Lee Minshull getting forward with regularity, bodes well for the season. Minshull was actually the only player replaced, allowing the remaining nine outfield players to pick up an invaluable 90 minutes. Exeter on the other hand, with their season kicking off on Saturday, were able to refresh in several positions. Which showed, and had it not been for a couple of near misses and one outstanding save from Seb Brown could have made the scoreline look a bit more convincing. Not that it would have been fair on the Dons however, who had great second half chances through Main and Kedwell to level up.

The goal itself was a bit unfortunate really, the ball took a deflection off an unnamed Dons player (i.e. he was on the opposite side of the stadium…) and fell to Jamie Cureton, who was never going to miss and gave Brown no chance by despatching into the roof of the net. The two managers shard a word after the goal, as they did on the final whistle, and the hope is that the reward for Exeter’s generosity in staging this game is it has prepared them for their season as much as it will have helped our squad.

Terry now gets a full week on the training pitch with the boys, followed by the Arsenal game, followed by another full week working with the boys (although there is a friendly game scheduled for next Tuesday at Godalming which could be invaluable for anyone coming back from injury…). The Arsenal game is really a godsend at this late stage of preparation. The Arsenal boys are just going to want to come and pass the ball around, which will suit us as that’s pretty much what Terry will be looking for our boys to do as well. Effectively its a way of keeping key players match fitness topped up, while reducing the risk that anyone would pick up a dreaded last-minute injury – which we could have faced if we had played an overenthusiastic Conference South team. And none of this is to say the Arsenal game is not going to be watchable – far from it! I know some fans are planning on making that their only pre-season game, and they couldn’t have picked a better one.

Plus after thirteen games with only one fixture played, heres hoping the chosen eleven, whoever they may be, are geared up to rip the Sandgrounders apart on opening day…

News, News, News…

Twenty-two years ago this very day (I wrote this bit on Friday…), a ten-year old Anonymous Don was curled up in his bed, having seen his side win the FA Cup! This was in the days when the FA Cup was THE tournament to win as far as I was concerned, and I remember lying in bed tired yet very much still high on a Pepsi overdose listening while the rest of the family made their way to bed as well. In the pre-student days Kingston was quiet at night, and I remember lying in bed watching the moonlight illuminating my room through the open curtains thinking ‘This is it. This is what life is all about’…

Twenty-two years later and here I am, a couple of feet taller, three times heavier and with slightly more hair on my chin, older but not necessarily more mature – and I’m like scrooge on Christmas Eve. Yes, normally I would go for the underdog on Cup Final day but to be honest I’ve long since stopped caring about the struggles of plucky overspending Portsmouth, and can’t bear to watch Chelsea rack up the first of what may be many more doubles (although thank god for Man City, eh?). So I’m going to the cinema with my wife. Well, it is her birthday.

So we have signed a new player! Former K’s man Christian Jolley has joined and its fair to say for a first new signing of the summer, this one appears to be underwhelming at first glance. Jolley was a cog in the wheel of K’s promotion charge and its fair to say this signing has come as a bit of a surprise. Yet Jolley has apparently been interesting a couple of League 2 clubs, and Terry had to get in quickly at the end of the season to snap him up. 

With the small squad we are running Jolley definitely hasn’t just been signed to make up the numbers, so presumably Terry Brown feels he has the makings of a player who can come straight in and play Conference Premier football. Reading what his former manager Alan Dowson thought of him here that sounds pretty reasonable and he does seem to have made a huge amount of progress at Kingstonian since they plucked him out of the junior game. Apparently Christian was signed for a small fee (I would stick my neck on the line and say around £5,000) plus an agreement to play Kingstonian in a PSF where bizarrely we get to keep most of the proceeds.

Kennedy Adjei has made the reverse journey to the Ryman, signing a years contract extension but finding he will spend it on loan at Sutton. It’s a great deal for Sutton, who my Sutton supporting boss advised me will use him as a replacement for Alan Pouton, and its undoubtedly a pretty good deal for Kennedy too. There hasn’t been too many details of the deal that have leaked yet but I would imagine Sutton are paying most or all of his salary, and presuming the contract is full-time he will be able to train with us a couple of days a week… which would make it a great deal for Wimbledon too…

With a long summer ahead of us, and the management team prepared to play the waiting game to find the right players, there may not be a flood of news until the players prepare to n for pre-season. The news that Terry was not prepared to go ahead with signing a centre half from a top Conference club as we couldn’t match said clubs offer is positive, regardless of who the centre half was (and I don’t want to get into speculation as to who it was). The fact was Mr Centre Half was quite happy to come to the Dons were finances not an issue, which speaks highly of how the club is viewed in the game. Whoever it was, even if it was only for an extra £50 a week, I certainly wouldn’t blame the guy for staying at his current club in the current financial climate, I just hope the club he plays for has enough cash in the coffers to keep paying him for the next year…

More positive news came in the form of pre-season games. Our second PSF will be a Tuesday night game at Maidenhead, not too far for the hardcore among us to travel, but exactly the sort of game we should be playing at that stage of preparations. Much like the TBA game against K’s, the small crowd will allow the management team to try a few things that perhaps they won’t be able to in a showpiece game against Milwall or Charlton, or even the unknown Premiership clubs XI on 7th August.

As that particular team hasn’t yet been announced (and may not for a number of weeks yet…) we can all have a bit of fun guessing who they will be. Most sides will presumably be back from any tours, yet most clubs like to be involved in a showpiece game against top European opposition on that day. Not that this would rule out any particular club that has already arranged a fixture that day, as ‘XI’ normally means ‘Second string and Youth’  anyway.  So we could be looking at literally anyone… although a local side will ensure an element of their support will make the trip. I was desperately trying to remember the side the management team visited this year in case something was arranged then, I’m fairly certain though it was Derby… which is no use to us in this case…

A third League One side has been added to the schedule, in this case we have a trip to St James Park to play Exeter City, and for me it will be the first opportunity to visit having missed the FA Cup game there a few seasons ago. Having said that it is a long way to go for a pre-season game, originally I was planning to take Mrs AD down there to show her my old haunts in Plymouth, but finances are a bit stretched as I prepare to move house again, so that had to be shelved. The only reason I’m still going is that I got a good deal on a return train ticket that day…

Yet unlike the Maidenhead game, which I may give a miss to and represents memories of away games past, Exeter is a side I can see us playing on a regular basis in future. Plus they are also a side we can look up to, having been down in the Conference when we played them in that FA Cup game, yet now brilliantly not only made it up to League One, they stayed their thanks to an 18th place finish. It will be interesting to see how far they (and us) have come, as well as allow ourselves some early season dreams of what might be to come, maybe not next season, but soon…