AFC Wimbledon v Crawley Town – A Match Preview

The visit of Crawley Town marks the first ‘normal’ home game we have had this season, not counting all ticket games against fellow ex-League clubs or the Salisbury game, which was our first game that wasn’t all ticket. Tomorrow (and Saturdays game against Histon) will give us a benchmark of what the attendance and atmosphere is going to be like for the rest of the season.

Despite the short distance, how many Crawley fans are going to make the journey? Will we really give them the entire KRE as we did for Salibury? I only ask because I don’t know whether the moveable barriers are sufficient in the BSP even if its only a temporary measure to split the end in two. If anyone knows, please leave a comment to clarify all this (and while your there let us know whether the new away pen in the JSS will have two barriers to cater for large and small away followings…).

Enough babbling. I’m sure you all want me to reveal what I know about our visitors. Well, I can’t legally write my first article of the season concerning Crawley without first mentioning their manager, Convicted Fraudster Steve Evans. Evans as we all remember, was responsible for not only cheating every team that Boston faced during their victorious Conference campaign but stealing from all of us by lying about how much money certain players were paid, allowing him to use money that should have gone to the taxman to be channelled back into the playing fund.

‘Hang on Anony Don’, I may hear one or two of you say (if you happen to be sitting in the same room as me when you read this), ‘All of this happened a while ago now, shouldn’t he be given another chance?’ Well he has been, and has managed to add to his reputation thanks to a shocking disciplinary record that has seen him sent from the dugout on numerous occasions. Perhaps the most memorable being the occasion at Grimsby where Evans had to be dragged out of the stadium by the police mid-match.

Evans last trip to the FA, only last week, has seen him sentenced to a three game ban from contacting his players during matchdays, plus an extra ten game touch-line suspension. Amazingly, the Crawley board have sprung to his defence. Apparently as Evans hasn’t been charged for any offence over the last fifteen months, this shows some signs of improvement. Of course a large proportion of those fifteen months were taken up by two close seasons, but why let that get in the way of a big number?

Crawley chairman Vic Marley described the ban as ‘…more to do with his reputation from the past…’, a comment that makes me think ‘quite right too’. The difference between a club like Crawley and ourselves is clarified further when you consider Terry Brown’s comment last season, when he told reporters that Erik Samuelson would probably sack him if he tried to tap up a player (in other words speak to or otherwise influence a player prior to an official approach being made). This goes on in the game all over the place, but I have no doubt that if a club made a serious complaint, no matter who the manager was, it would be investigated seriously.

Maybe that is why AFC Wimbledon have been consistently attracting decent crowds season after season, whereas Crawley have great difficulty bringing in a four figure crowd when things are going against them. It’s no insult intended against the Crawley fans themselves, but my question to them must be ‘Do you think your manager, and to a lesser extent chairman and board of directors, put off the casual fan from turning up on a matchday?’

Thats five paragraphs off my chest. Oh, and Evans has the opportunity to appeal, so his ban doesn’t kick in just yet. So those in the JSS have the opportunity to direct their views to the man himself. I’m sure he will appreciate any advice given. Especially regarding his weight…

Crawley had to rebuild their squad over the summer amid rumours of financial difficulties, although their situation seemed nowhere as chaotic as Ebbsfleets. They managed to sign a half decent albeit journeyman striker in Jefferson Louis, who managed his most stable season for years by hitting fifteen goals for Wrexham last season, yet has only managed one goal from his ten appearances for Crawley so far.

This single goal makes Louis joint top scorer amongst the current squad which probably explains a lot from a team that has only managed one goal away from home so far (although Oxford’s recent signing Jamie Cook notched three for Crawley before his move last month). In replacing Cook, Crawley have turned to a familiar name to Dons fans in Callum Willock…

Willock looked the real deal in his two trial appearances, and only missed out on getting a deal thanks to his apparently large wage demands and requirement of a long term contract in order to ‘look after his family’. So either Willock has decided his family can make do with shopping at Lidl or Crawley have taken the money they received for Cook and found a large sum down the back of the sofa. Desperation on both sides may have played a part, after all it is September and most players and clubs are pretty settled by now. Besides, apparently Willock has accepted a one month deal… which is what TB offered him at the Meadow. Never mind, we have Monty now…

Willock’s introduction to the Crawley fans was dramatic, scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over Kettering. The scorer of Crawley’s first goal, Charlie Ademeno, faces a fitness test before this game although the source of this information was the BBC website so it could turn out to be an entertainment story about the cast of Charlies Angels fitting in a trip to Loch Ness or something…

Another possible returnee, again according to BBC Sport, is Glenn Wilson. Wilson played a couple of games on loan under DA at around the same time Jay Conroy had his first spell at the club, the pair joining on loan from Crystal Palace for a month. I personally cannot remember Wilson at all. I think he played a couple of games but was never going to shine as bright as Conroy’s twinkley blue eyes!

The Dons are guaranteed to move up at least one place with a win this evening, but maybe will move up a few places judging by the congestion from the play-off places downwards. With a game in hand things are looking up for the side, the young players are learning lessons with no pressure on them to push for a promotion spot (at least not from most of us…), and look good for a result against transitional Crawley, who have been awful away from home this year (except for beating Cambridge…).

Our O/S has been a bit quiet on the squad front, but I would imagine we will see pretty much the same lineup as we did against Ebbsfleet. Maybe Monty could come in for his first start in place of Main. We know Terry is looking to make changes, but the strength and energy in some of the young players at this early stage suggests they don’t need to be rested. Have you noticed Chris Hussey flagging recently? Gregory and Hatton probably cover more ground than anyone, and do you see them puffing towards the end of games?

Maybe only Lewis Taylor from the younger players looks tired at times, but as he missed virtually an entire season last year I would imagine it may take a few weeks still until he gets properly match fit. Jon Main seems to suffer, but on the whole his form is on the floor at the moment so its hard to tell whether he is tired or just downhearted towards the end of games.

I expect Main to start on the bench tonight. Nothing against him, but it’s about time that we saw how Kedwell and Montague operate together. And its a toss up who will start on the left from Duncan or Adjei. Naturally Im going for Moore in that case. So I’m expecting the following lineup…

Pullen

Hatton

Hussey

Lorraine

Johnson

Gregory

Adjei

Taylor

Moore

Kedwell

Montague

NB – Jay Conroy’s appeal has come through and it has gone against him. I can only express my complete outrage in a self-righteous manner in a way only someone who wasn’t at the game and didn’t see the incident could…

Second Thoughts… Tamworth 5.9.09

First off, my all encompassing match report managed to leave out one minor detail, that being Tamworth’s second goal. Thanks to Anonymous (no relation by the way) for pointing that out. So, here we go…

‘Tamworth doubled their lead, slightly against the run of play, as Chris Hussey failed to cut out a cross from the right. This is a problem I have highlighted before concerning Chris, but he does have a habit of showing his man to the byline without any kind of challenge. He has to be a lot tighter in future, and I hope it proves to be a lesson learned for him, as on this occasion it proved costly. The ball found Nick Wright all alone to thump a header past Pullen from close range, as the Dons backline seemed to take a laissez faire attitude towards marking.’

Of the eight games we have played so far Jay Conroy has only featured in four of them. Now I know this is down to the injury he picked up on the eve of the season, and due to Terry’s insistence on rotating for certain games, but I doubt he will miss another four games all season if he continues to show the sort of form he has recently.

Despite Kedwell’s two goals, Conroy just shaded him to my man of the match award. In fact it was probably the most complete performance we have seen from a Dons player this season, with the possible exception of Luke Moore against Salisbury. Conroy found himself shunted around the pitch, actually looking better playing out of position at centre half as he did at right back. Plus he possesses qualities we probably haven’t seen in the AFC era from a fullback.

For example, Luke Garrard was a gifted ball playing midfielder before Terry settled him into the right back slot. Yet now he reverts to the standard non-league fullbacks image of launching hopeful balls over the top and occasionally backing up the right winger by offering an outlet behind only to then dump the ball into the box with as much care and attention as an NHS nurse (not been to hospital recently?…).

Conroy however, has the ability to put his foot on the ball and pick a pass, whether forwards, sideways or to a midfielder, rarely looking like gifting possession away or panicking and hoofing one over the top. As well as this, like Hussey on the other side, he looks not just to get up in support of attacks, but even get past his colleagues on the right and provide a creative outlet. And for an added bonus, how good is he in the air?

Looking forward to next Saturday, we have run into a centre back crisis at precisely the wrong time. Cambridge hit seven against what admittedly sounded a pretty awful Forest Green side, but facing a strike force with the scent of goals in their nostrils is not for the Conference rookie. Having said that I would have no problem with Jay playing centre half on Saturday if required. He can do the job, of that I have no doubt.

Undoubtedly he would have played in that position had we been playing Wrexham tomorrow, but who would have played at right back? Sam Hatton has proved to be immense in that role, but would you pick him over Luke Garrard? Luke is such a likeable footballer but seems to be stuck in a rut after recovering from injury. He is solid enough, but just seems to be lacking something that Jay has at the moment.

Plus, assuming Conroy isn’t available at some point in the future and you go for Sam Hatton to fill in at right back, would it be possible to use Luke in midfield? It has been some time since he played there, and he wouldn’t immediately spring to mind ahead of the likes of Taylor or even Adjei. In fact it seems like a waste of Hatton’s talent even considering it. But could it actually work?

Moving down the opposite end of the pitch, Jon Main continued his miserable spell in front of goal once more on Saturday. In fact he contributed little to the game, seemed to be brushed off the ball all too easily and posed very little threat to the opposition goal. Some have mentioned how tired he looked towards the end, yet I would argue it is his lack of strength that really worried. At one stage he seemed to give up on a ball long before his chance of winning had gone, allowing his man to block him off and the ball to run out of play. He turned to me wth a look of agony and seemed to stare straight into my eyes (so maybe not the best time for me to cry ‘Oh come on Mainy!’ at him).

So what’s up with Jon Main? At the start of the season he was creating opportunities for himself with some intelligent running, but on Saturday at times he looked like a passenger. He gave the sort of performance you would have expected from someone suffering from a virus of some kind. I would imagine if Terry had a substitution left in him during the second half he would have hauled Main off, either for Godfrey or Wellard (with Moore supporting Kedwell up front).

With Ross Montague regaining fitness we could in theory see him set for a place on the bench come Saturday. In fact, could Terry even start with him? If Montague is good for an hour it would be good to see what he can do, with Main knowing he has the chance to be the impact sub many supporters believe it would be better to use him as. No player wants to earn a reputation as a supersub, and it would just be a short term thing providing a fresh Jon Main uses the opportunity to face tiring defences and turn opportunities into goals. It wouldn’t just be good for the team, it would be good for him personally.

Finally (before we get to the good bit), Chris Hussey didn’t look as dangerous as he has done of late, and defensively he was guilty of an error of sorts, but the boy can deliver an awesome dead ball when he puts his mind to it. His wonderful corner created the equaliser for Danny K, and his continued form has resulted in a standby spot for England C. Now I was speaking to a Manchester United fan last week moaning that our players seem to be overlooked for the squad, yet he seemed to believe this was a good thing for our young players. I can understand people perhaps feeling that it is a worthless exercise that could only result in a possible injury.

However, the ‘C’ squad don’t have twelve games a season for us to worry about. I can think of no better experience for a player such as Hussey (or Taylor, Gregory, Conroy, Hatton or Moore for that matter) to gain the sort of experience you just can’t buy. I for one would be proud of any Dons player called up to represent his country, and the fact we have half a dozen or so players who will still be under 23 in two years time (the duration of the forthcoming International Challenge Trophy that England ‘C’ compete for against a variety of representative sides across Europe).

So well done for receiving a place as standby for the squad Chris, but make sure you go on to show Fairclough just what a good player you can be. He certainly has the potential to prove himself the best under-23 leftback the Conference has to offer… and yes I appreciate the irony that I spent the first part of this article highlighting his mistake on Saturday before calling for him to be added to the England squad…

So, on to the ratings;

Pullen    5

Conroy    8

Hussey    6

Gregory    6

Inns    6

Johnson    6

Hatton    7

Adjei    6

Kedwell    8

Main    5

Moore    6

SUBS

Godfrey    6

Brown    6

Taylor    6

Explanation? Pullen looked poor even taking his injury into account, and no-one else really deserved more than a six with the exception of Conroy (for reasons listed above), Hatton (who really did well when asked to fill in at fullback, and still managed to get forwards to contribute a great ball for the first goal), plus of course Kedwell, our two goal hero.

After a free week, the Dons return next Saturday against Cambridge. Tune in for all the buildup – and I know some of my previews have been a bit lame of late, but I shall try my hardest to redress this balance – plus hopefully a couple of other pieces here and there…

Tamworth 2 AFC Wimbledon 2 – A Match Report

The Dons fantastic start has increased my expectations to such an extent that coming out of the ground yesterday, I couldn’t help feel slightly disappointed we hadn’t stolen the game in the second half. Yes, at half time I had given up hope of seeing any points, especially when I saw the two substitutions as the players came back out.

But we Dons have been spoilt by our team, as I have said before. And Tamworth really didn’t look anything special, which perhaps sums up our poor first half performance Plus some moronic MK chants from a section of the Tamworth support really made me want the lads to ruin their day with a winner.

It had started off, erm, cold. Tamworth is a grim looking place, with the stadium stuck on what looked like a piece of waste ground. They have done their very best to turn it into a Conference standard stadium though, aside from a horrendous slope from left to right (as seen from the away end). On the whole the locals were friendly (ignoring the MK stuff), yet a piece in their programme bemoaned the lack of locals turning up to watch the team, spending equivalent amounts of money watching games in local pubs.

The addition of a few hundred extra supporters and the money they will bring is probably all Tamworth need to stabilize as a Conference club. Not that they will have many problems staying up this season, especially after the start they have made this term.

The Dons fans travelled in their numbers once more, packing out the admittedly small away section and visitors seats, with a few more in the home section of the stand boosting numbers slightly above the 645 that officially entered. You wonder how Tamworth will cope when Luton arrive, with numbers in four figures rather than the high threes, yet the same could be said of a number of clubs – perhaps ourselves included.

Wimbledon fielded a slightly weakened starting lineup, with Luke Moore at the top of the diamond. No Derek Duncan meant Kenedy Adjei kept his place, moving to the left side of midfield, with Hatton and Gregory completing the quartet. It seems Steven Gregory had suffered a family bereavement during the week, for which the players wore black armbands in respect, and he showed a great deal of bravery stepping out for the team on an occasion when no Dons fans would have begrudged him spending time with his family instead.

Defensively, no Judge or Lorraine meant a first start this season for Alan Inns at centre half. As usual Jamie Pullen took his place between the sticks, yet unbeknown to us supporters was carrying an injury that he picked up during the warm-up, something that may have played a part in his erratic first half performance.

The players took the field to the strains of ‘Let Me Entertain You’, which was cringeworthy enough to provoke groans from Dons fans around me. That, and the overenthusiastic PA man, are a curse seemingly every club in provincial towns up and down the country seems to have fallen for, capped by the local village idiot parading round in full Tamworth kit and a lambs head (and since when have lambs taken to wearing keepers gloves?).

Wimbledon looked uncomfortable right from kickoff. Maybe it had something to do with the slope, or the changes made to the team, either way it didn’t look like it was going to be our day at all. Nick Wright created Tamworth’s first chance for himself on three minutes, cutting inside Alan Inns before guiding a tame effort into Pullens arms. It should have been a wake up call for the Dons, but just lead to more chaotic defending and misplaced passes.

Wright has been called up to the forthcoming England C squad along with team mate Alex Rodman, and it was Rodman that spurned the Lambs next chance, mishitting his right foot effort that still beat a scrambling Pullen, rolling just wide of his left post. I have to say, despite Rodman and Wright causing us problems today, if they are the England C benchmark then the likes of Luke Moore and even Sam Hatton should consider themselves unlucky not to have received a callup.

It seemed only a matter of time before either Wimbledon sorted themselves out defensively or Tamworth took advantage, and sadly it was the latter. A throughball was heading back to Pullen, and although he seemed in control of the situation, Jake Sheridan was chasing up to put pressure on the Dons keeper. Pullen seemed to have made his mind up to pick the ball up, yet at the last moment changed his mind and kicked it.

Maybe if Pullen hadn’t been thinking of his injury he might have realised the ball was on the edge of the area, and if he had just dropped on it and smothered then he could have made the best of a bad job. Instead his kick cannoned off Sheridan and flew in the bottom right corner of the net. On another day it would have flown out for a goalkick, but following our early season good fortune our luck seems to be turning after Oxford somehow escaped Kingsmeadow with the points last week.

Wimbledon finally created a chance on the quarter hour. Some persistent play by Jay Conroy saw him work a shooting opportunity from twenty-five yards, but his firmly hit strike flew straight into Tamworth keeper Danny Alcock’s arms. At the time, Conroy had just resumed full back duties after a spell at centre half after Alan Inns had to leave the field following a nasty gash to his head.

Unfortunately although Inns would gladly stick his head into a cement mixer if it meant there was a chance of defending the Dons goal, he isn’t made of stone (we probably forget that sometimes, and Inns himself definitely does…). A patched up Innsy returned to the field sporting a replacement or his bloodied shirt and a huge head bandage. And it only took one more commanding header to see that bandage slip off.

Really Inns should never have returned to the field. I would imagine his insistence to return was probably the reason he did, although he didn’t give the impression that he really knew where he was. There was always a danger he could have seen Tamworths red shirts, thought he was back playing for Trumpton and started challenging Dons players in the air. Innsy was eventually removed from the action, to a rousing reception from the Dons fans and good appreciation from the Tamworth supporters – despite the chanting later which was only from a minority of fans, it was good to see the majority of them know bravery from a footballer when they see it.

Lewis Taylor replaced him, with Sam Hatton moving back to fullback and Jay Conroy at centre half once more. Conroy really impressed me after the switch. He is a brilliant fullback, but has a defensive brain that he could probably apply to any defensive position. Knowing Jay can play this position must be a huge boost to Terry Brown, who seems to have run out of centre halves after having four at the start of the season.

Despite this setback things started to look up for the Dons, a short spell of pressure followed featuring our best chance of the half, a scuffed Kennedy Adjei strike seemed to be completely misjudged by Alcock who just watch it rebound of his right post and back into open play. Then on the half hour Gregory found space to fire a shot that seemed destined for the bottom left hand corner until Alcocks last minute intervention diverted it round the post.

Both sides played out the remainder of the half with some pretty shocking football. I’m not sure either side had any excuses, the Dons just couldn’t get their passing game going and were relying on long balls to Kedwell which may have been more effective if they were directed anywhere near the frontman. The players must have taken a small amount of hope from the fact their hosts were only slightly better than them, and you got the impression that if they could just get it together there still might be a way back into the game for them.

Not that it looked likely, especially following the use of both remaining substitutes during the interval. Pullen was removed from action having suffered a shocker (including being mocked by the Tamworth goalkeeping coach… obviously big Jamie wasn’t actually there to witness this, the guy being a coward and all…), being replaced by Sebb Brown.

Regular readers will know Browns performances in what should have been his trial period left me with little faith in the kid, and when he signed I promised to back him 100%… well I never expected him to actually get onto the pitch! Fortunately all Sebb had to do was the one thing he appeared quite good at during his trial period – kicking the ball clear.

Steven Gregory was also replaced by Elliott Godfrey. Gregory hadn’t actually had too bad a game. He gave the ball away a couple of times, but there probably wasn’t a Dons player on the pitch who hadn’t also. I can only imagine he had been affected by recent problems more than he thought he would.

Naturally with all the changes I saw the best case scenario as keeping the score down, and maybe notching a consolation goal that kept our hopes up until settling for a battling defeat. Yet, something clicked. Wimbledon immediately started looking dangerous. The ball found its way to Hatton on the right, who somehow worked space for a cross down by the corner flag. It was a delightful ball that found Danny Kedwell in plenty of space to guide his header across Alcock and into the far corner.

It certainly sparked the Dons fans into life (although the support was already pretty impressive, just perhaps a little resigned to our fate). The Dons were looking good but still in danger of being caught on the counter, Michael Blackwood striking straight at Brown. Then Wimbledon levelled the scores thanks to Kedwell again. A brilliant Hussey corner found Kedwell, who had lost his marker and had the easiest job of slamming his header into the back of the net.

I have to say I’m really proud for Danny Kedwell right now. When he joined last year he started with a flood of goals, before finding he was better at creating goals than scoring them. After that he seemed lose his scoring touch a bit, and he was never prolific at this level with Grays, so to see him second in the scoring charts right now is a pleasant surprise to us all. Maybe he won’t bang them away as frequently as he is now for the rest of the campaign, but by then perhaps our midfielders will discover their goalscoring touch…

If either side was going to win this game, Wimbledon now looked the more likely. Kennedy Adjei blazed an effort over seconds later. Then on the hour Sam Hatton found a shooting opportunity from a tight angle on the right, but couldn’t find the target. Elliott Godfrey found Lewis Taylor on the right who cut inside two defenders before lifting over and wide. Of course, perhaps it was better that none of these efforts made their way towards goal for fear a midfielder might actually score this season…

Luke Moore doesn’t count. He may have topped the diamond today, but his two strikes against Salisbury were both notched while supporting Kedwell up front. Today from his midfield position he couldn’t hit a milk producing animal with a medium sized stringed instrument. He lead an incisive break from his own half, and as the Tamworth defence backed away could only drag his shot from twenty yards wide of the left post.

Wimbledon had to stay switched on at the back, particularly to defend their inexperienced keeper. Jay Conroy in particular pulled of a couple of magnificent last gasp challenges to prevent Tamworth players a shot on goal. It was this type of danger that prevented the hosts from really threatening the Dons goal, although they did have a lot of possession as the game wore on.

Mostly it was wasted, the ball returned to a Dons player, and on a couple of occasions we saw a promising Wimbledon break halted early thanks to some quite cynical challenges. These drew yellow cards from the referee, but succeeded in negating the threat of these potential counter attacks.

Wimbledon have been awarded a few penalties already this season. The reason for this has been our speed of movement in the opposition penalty area, and outstanding close control confusing defenders, drawing fouls. While not all of those awarded this season have been clear cut, all of them were earned and deserved.

The problem is I don’t believe referees actually like giving penalties. Even the guy at Grays really didn’t want to give them, we got two because they were so obvious the linesmen were able to confirm what he had seen yet didn’t give the third – the most obvious of the lot. Perhaps the official who took charge of yesterdays games had noticed this statistic? He certainly didn’t seem to want to give us one at Tamworth.

Firstly, Elliott Godfrey burst into the box at pace, only to find himself dumped on the ground thanks to both of his legs being removed from under him. I have to say I wasn’t expecting a penalty to be given, it was borderline whether the offense was inside or outside of the area so thought the referee might give the benefit of the doubt and give a free kick. However he decided on this occasion he had seen a dive, and booked a clearly shocked Godfrey.

The second one was maybe more clear cut. Lewis Taylor weaved his way into the area only to be bundled over. This time the referee allowed play to continue. I’m not sure what he thought he saw, but he can’t have seen this as a Taylor dive as no yellow was forthcoming. So what then? Did Taylor just fall over? Or is body checking an opponent now a legal challenge, even when the ball is nowhere near?

It was around this time we heard those MK chants. As I said previously, not all Tamworth fans were a bad bunch, but still couldn’t they self police? After all, as I have said before if any Dons fan acts like a dick around me I don’t have a problem (kindly) bringing it up with them where necessary. The MK chants signal a lack of class, self respect even. It’s pure jealousy, and the majority of Tamworth fans don’t deserve being tarred with that particular brush.

While we are on the subject of Them by the way, it was great to see they threw away the lead at home to Huddersfield on Saturday. I’ve always liked Huddersfield, even more so as one of their supporters chose to come and support us rather than enter the Winkiedome. That’s another reason why Tamworth were ill advised taking the MK option (after all I’m sure there must be other, more original, chants that might hurt us equally badly…), that is that neutral eyes don’t look kindly on it either…

The game ultimately petered out in a serious of attacks and counter-attacks from both sides that threatened much and delivered little. Wimbledon failed to strike the killer blow when they had the momentum, but its was a fantastic effort to take a point from a game Tamworth didn’t deserve to lose due to their organisation and persistence in the first half.

Wimbledon now head into a free week, undoubtedly we shall drop a few places while the rest of the Conference have a full match week, and return to action against Cambridge next week looking to complete the visit of a trio of big hitters with a win against a side bang on form after destroying Forest Green 7-0 at the weekend.

AFC Wimbledon 0 Oxford United 1 – A Match Report

It felt strange walking out of the ground following a 0-1 defeat and feeling very positive about the performance, but that’s what happened following this game. I know going into the game I felt perhaps the performance against Luton had been a one-off. In the days before the game, deep in the back of my consciousness I had tried to keep dark thoughts of a heavy home defeat at bay.

And yet as I stumbled out of the ground wondering how on earth we lost that game, encountering Oxford fans pinching themselves that they got away with the three points, it suddenly struck me that outside of our little world, other clubs actually look at coming to Kingsmeadow as a tough place to come. We spend much of our time reminding each other that we won’t be putting together a serious challenge this year that perhaps sometimes we forget that.

The reason we took nothing from this game had nothing to do with Oxford being a much better side than us. In fact for long periods of this game they looked quite ordinary. We lost because we showed Oxford too much respect in the first half, and failed to take our chances in the second. While I certainly wouldn’t want to criticise Terry or the players after our great start, I would hope when Wrexham, Mansfield and Cambridge come to town we won’t wait until we are a goal behind until we take the initiative to put pressure on the opposition.

In fact the only aspect of this game that made me think Oxford looked potential champions was the manner in which they rode their luck. They were strong and well organised, yet today they took the points despite not really looking as though they deserved to. You know, like we did last term…

Its annoying looking back on the first half, with the power of hindsight, that we showed Oxford so much respect that ultimately they didn’t really deserve. The first half followed a pattern where Oxford pushed forward without ever showing enough guile to break down the Dons defence, but often enough to worry regular Dons watchers that any mistakes by their team could lead to problems.

It was Wimbledon who created the games first decent chance… well, sort of. A sortie down the right saw the ball break to Conroy, who literally dumped a high ball into the box. Misjudged completely by an Oxford man, it broke to Luke Moore who had space and time but in such a manner the Dons man had to hit it straight away, unfortunately looping the ball over the bar.

Lets not dress this up as something it wasn’t by the way. I’m not mentioning many first half chances, because there wasn’t really that many of them. It must have been a shocking half for any neutrals that bothered getting tickets, as Oxford tried to batter Wimbledon into submission, only for the Dons defence to bang it clear to Kedwell, who had little support to make any decent use of the ball. It was literally all long balls and flicks to nowhere.

Oxford managed a couple of scares just before half time. A deep corner from the left floated over everyone, before being knocked back over Pullen, headed away from under his own bar by Sam Hatton, and somehow scrambled clear. Then a ball played in from the right was met by a flicked header from Adam Chapman that just dropped wide of Jamie Pullen’s right post.

Wimbledon looked a lot more positive at the start of the second half, yet found themselves a goal down just five minutes in. Some poor defending from Jay Conroy allowed Oxford in, as he appeared to leave the ball for an unsuspecting Brett Johnson only for an Oxford man to steal the ball and sweep it right, and Damian Batt’s brilliant cross knocked in along the six yard box was turned into the far corner by the unfortunate Conroy.

Jay Conroy certainly didn’t deserve this after his decent start to the season, and the errors that started and finished the move for Oxfords goal were out of character. You can see why Brown favours him over Luke Garrard. Conroy possesses qualities you wouldn’t normally expect of a fullback, especially his ability in the air. Apparently Jay filled in well at centre half last week after Lorraine and Judge were injured, and by all accounts he did very well. Coupled with his ability going forward, perhaps not of the same quality as Chris Hussey but we certainly don’t look as unbalanced as we did last year when every positive move seemed to come from the left.

Wimbledon didn’t respond to going behind immediately, in fact the game followed its well worn pattern until around the hour mark. Jay Conroy moved forwards with the ball looking for a pass in midfield, but the Oxford midfield backed off him allowing him to fire a low shot that was straight at Ryan Clarke, yet the Oxford keeper did well not to spill the ball with Dons players lurking.

Shortly after Derek Duncan fired in a shot that was immediately blocked, however the ball looped into the air dangerously. Kedwell beat Clarke to the dropping ball but the Dons top scorer could only stab the ball into the keepers arms. With Hussey and Conroy finally getting into the game down their respective flanks, Wimbledon looked threatening.

Oxford should have been reduced to ten men on 68 minutes after a great ball to Lewis Taylor on the right saw him flick the ball past Oxford fullback Kevin Sandwith. However Sandwith cut Taylor down with a shocking challenge that caught the Dons man just above the knee. After extensive treatment Taylor was able to continue, yet the referee determined the challenge only warranted a yellow card.

True, the referees inconsistency had been working both ways until this point (especially his insistence that any 50/50 aerial challenge should be blown for backing in, something that cost the Dons a few free kicks in the first half but almost certainly prevented Paul Lorraine giving away a penalty after a spot of climbing…), and you could say this made amends for a decision made in the Salisbury game when Jon Main should have seen red. But decisions don’t balance themselves out for long, and Wimbledon were on the wrong end of a poor decision minutes later.

It happened when the breakthrough looked like it had come for the Dons on 69 minutes, as Paul Lorraine found himself upfield following a corner and seemed about to pull the trigger to level the scores before finding himself bundled to the floor by Batt. The Oxford man seemed certain to be shown a red card, only for the referee to decide a yellow card would be a more appropriate punishment.

Not only this but the official spent several minutes sorting this out (fortunately remembering to stop his watch… although more on this later…), including ensuring no Oxford player had gained a head-start in encroaching into the box (down to the last inch…). While all this was going on, Danny Kedwell was waiting with ball on penalty spot, presumably changing his mind several times.

After such a long wait it may have been sensible to re-spot the ball and compose himself once more, instead Kedwell’s tame right foot effort was easily kept out by Clarke. Kedwell has had to carry the load of goalscoring expectation so far with Jon Mains loss of form, and maybe this was a big game to far for the man who normally puts in his best work while acting as a foil for his strike partner. A few goals for Main, or the return to match fitness of new addition Ross Montague will take some of the pressure off Kedwell once more, but until then we are relying on our midfield to help him out a little.

While Wimbledon pushed forward, Oxford resorted to picking them off on the break. Pullen had to get down and smother a shot after an Oxford man had muscled past the Dons defence too easily. But in reality it was all Wimbledon. A Hatton deep cross found Danny Kedwell free at the far post but it was just too deep to give the big striker a chance to make up for his previous miss, floating the ball to the keeper from a tight angle.

By this stage Conroy had been sacrificed for Ricky Wellard (with same Hatton moving to right back). Wellard was to spurn a couple of chances that could have put Wimbledon back into the game. However the youngster has looked sharp in all other aspects of his game (except finishing!), and we may well see him start on Monday against Grays.

The first came when Hatton (who had his best game yet this season in midfield) crossed only for Wellard, with the goal at his mercy, to allow the ball to slide of his head. The ball continued to the far post where Main was lurking, the striker couldn’t make proper contact but was offside anyway.

Then, the penalty aside, came Wimbledon’s best chance. A fantastic deep cross from Hussey on the left was met by Kedwell, heading back across goal for Wellard who once again froze, the ball seemed like it hit him and bounced into Clarke’s arms. I have faith that very soon Wellard is going to break his scoring duck by belting one in from thirty yards in a manner that will make Luke Moore’s effort against Salisbury look like a tap in by comparison. Until then, maybe Terry might like to put him on the six yard line, point him towards goal, and have him belt the ball in the net all day until it becomes second nature. 

This was Wimbledon’s last chance, although Oxford had a couple of what looked like sitters as they exploited gaps in the Dons defence. Paul Lorraine looked like he had been seriously injured in stoppage time as Jamie Pullen bravely headed a through ball clear, colliding with his centre half.

As I don’t tend to report on incidents like ‘long ball by the keeper, headed clear by Lorraine’ it might not seem like he does a lot by reading my reports, except maybe for giving away penalties and occasionally pushing forward for corners, but I would just like to add now what an immense contribution Lorraine makes. That’s taking nothing away from his defensive partner Brett Johnson, and it was their solid display all afternoon that kept Oxford at bay.

The game didn’t actually finish until close to five, as the referee fortunately added the time it took for Lorraine to be treated to the six he already added on, which mainly came from him stopping his watch to talk to someone every time a foul took place. Of course, this also meant that he blew the whistle as soon as time ran out, which for Wimbledon was just as Chris Hussey was about to play a ball in from the left. Oh well…

Which brings me back to the start. A moment of intense frustration as the whistle blew passed almost immediately, and I could appreciate the performance the boys put in. They deserved the ovation given by the majority of the crowd at the end, and if the boys can put in a performance half as good as this on Monday at Grays we won’t have any problems.

Oh, and I probably don’t need to lose any sleep over heavy home defeats anymore…

The General Specific (Thursday 28th May ’09)

Well a couple more players have signed (although thats not really the actual reason I was writing today, but I’ll get this out of the way first – no offence meant to those concerned!). Jay Conroy and Elliott Godfrey are onboard for next season, great news as Jay looked like the sort of right back we had badly missed since Luke Garrards injury. As far as Luke himself is concerned, well I think he is still the better right back but we may well see him act as a midfield utility player next season as and when required.

Elliott is a top player as far as I’m concerned, and the news that he has signed again is a relief (although I had the impression he was under contract already…) as a player with his combination of workrate and skill should always have a home at our club, especially as in my mind (and presumably Terry Brows mind too) he has done more than enough to earn his shot at a higher level.

On to more important things, You may remember I mentioned the ‘non-existant ground in Wimbledon’ yesterday. Well judging by news reports this morning in the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1189065/AFC-Wimbledon-target-Football-League-Plough-Lane.html), the Mirror (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/05/28/wimbledon-going-home-115875-21394759/) and more comprehensively in the Evening Standard (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/article-23700727-details/AFC+Wimbledon+plan+to+go+home+to+Plough+Lane/article.do) suggests, well, we may be in the verge of a move back to Plough Lane.

Which raises a few questions. Firstly how concrete are these plans? Well the club has spoken openly about attempting to open dialogue with the owners of the site, which has largely fallen down through the lack of response from the current owners. The reports above seem to suggest an agreement of some kind has been made, but of course doesn’t mention who it was with. Its sounds more like educated guesswork as far as I can see, and the more measured responses from the fanbase consider that perhaps an agreement has been reached with the council for a football ground to be included in any planning application for the site.

If so this is unhelpful reporting for a number of reasons. It comes on the eve of an important meeting where Dons Trust members will decide the future direction our club will take ins the form of a Strategy Review, and if members approach the meeting with their heads filled with improbable dreams, will they really be acting in the clubs best interests going into the SGM?

Perhaps the Trust are intending on revealing all before the meeting begins tonight, but perhaps they have been thrown slightly by one of our own mouthing off to the press at the worst possible time. There are ways and means of doing things, for example Marc Jones revealed his wish for the club to return to Wimbledon in the SLP last week, this was enough to spark debate, why did someone feel the need to take it one step further and act, as the articles describe, as a ‘spokesman’ for the trust?

There are a number of issues which I want to cover in greater detail that work commitments mean I don’t have time for right now, however its likely the picture could become clearer in the next 24 hours. This afternoon however, I call on the club to issue a statement so everybody is aware of the facts ahead of time, even if they just advise a further statement will be made at the meeting tonight. That in itself could help calm the speculation, as while they remain unanswered supporters, myself included, find their hopes raised by lazy reporting which may turn out to show we are still as far away to agreeing a move back as we were yesterday.