400 Minutes

Sorry for the delay in writing. The Anonymous Don is technically closed for Christmas, yet as I forgot to post a message advising that plenty of you have been returning waiting for an update, perhaps visualising me dead in a ditch somewhere…

The Christmas close down has come early as I am off to the States for two weeks two days before the Crawley game, and I have to get quite a lot of things done in the meantime. So the blog will return, relaunched in the New Year, in the mean time I will endeavour to keep as up to date as possible with intermediate updates such as this.

Last time I wrote, if you can remember back that far, was a 0-1 home defeat to playoff rivals York, and since Michael Rankine’s sixty-third minute strike in that game young Sebastian Brown has gone approximately four hundred minutes without picking the ball out of his net (including various time added on at half/full-time, for those of you who came up with 387 minutes…).

After York I really felt we had run into just the right opponents at the right time. Ebbsfleet had shown some resilience against us earlier in the season, but any fears Dons fans might have had of an embarrassing home defeat would have been put aside after only minutes. We were never going to have trouble against a side that gifted us possession so freely, even at our worst we don’t give the ball away so easily from start to finish!

Despite this I feel we made the trip to Kidderminster more in hope than expectation, but our hosts seemed to have the sort of bad day we had for their visit a month previously. With Moore and Taylor buzzing around Kedwell, the trio of Hendry, Wellard and Gregory took hold of the midfield and ran the game. Hendry has been an inspired signing, the missing piece of the jigsaw almost, and any possibility of turning this arrangement into something more permanent will only have a positive effect on Wimbledon’s playoff chances.

Although Danny Kedwells expertly taken goal was enough to settle the game, the Dons missed further chances that could have ended the match as a contest much earlier than the final whistle. How Jon Main failed to head home from yards out I don’t know, especially with hundreds of Wimbledon supporters behind the goal trying to suck it in. Either way, Wimbledon played some good football, and it was a real pleasure to make the journey to watch such a performance.

With two wins under our belts, my football (or more accurately Wimbledon) head told me the trick to Salisbury would be a lot harder than the League table suggested. I couldn’t make the game due to work commitments but it seems in tough conditions this really could have been a banana skin. Congratulations to the boys for coming home with the points, and even bigger congratulations to the hundreds of Dons fans who made the trip, despite not being too far away it was just long enough a journey for me to be unable to juggle my own commitments, so well done those of you who did.

Which brings us to Gateshead. This was a side in form against a relatively unknown quantity, and Wimbledon put them away with minimal fuss. Steven Gregory looked as though the last thing he wanted to do was strike left footed as he skipped past two defenders, if anything this probably made him think a little more about how he hit the ball. If it was on his right foot we may have seen it fly over the bar but instead his effort dipped over the keeper, finding the net via the underside of the bar.

Still it wasn’t the most watchable of games, mainly down to the referees ability to blow his whistle whenever there was any danger of some football breaking out. He cancelled out Kedwells strike early in the second half after Kedwell had brushed off an attempted rugby tackle by the last man. Fortunately even he couldn’t miss the challenge that scythed down Elliott Godfrey on the hour, allowing Ricky Wellard to stroke a free kick around the wall into the corner.

An other good day at the office for Wimbledon, but where does this leave us? We have gone from mid-table to just two points off the playoffs and above contenders such as Luton and Kidderminster in little over a week. In these circumstances it’s a shame we have to break for cup games, but thats football I suppose. If we were facing Crawley in Tuesday instead of Ash, I would have felt we would have gone with confidence and taken home the points.

Instead we have a two-week wait, and will perhaps have to regain momentum depending on what sort of side is named for the Boreham Wood game next week. Crawley is a tricky place to go as we found out when we visited for our cup game, yet I think after our ten man victory in the replay we might just have sussed them out. Another clean sheet should mean another victory, as I listen in from afar…

After the York game I think I wasn’t the only one to believe we really needed a Chris Hussey replacement but the back four seems to have gelled. We now have four defenders who could play centre half if required, meaning our full backs aren’t exposed to high balls over the top. Even when Hatton fills in at right back we look solid against an aerial bombardment. Yet this hasn’t had an effect on how we pass the ball around, perhaps fortunate that we have players such as Judge and Johnson who are as comfortable with the ball at their feet as they are attacking it in the air. Sure if a Hussey-clone becomes available in January I say we sign him, but if the right player isn’t available we should stick with what we have – and that includes making more use of Derek Duncan in this position.

It seems like Terry Browns plan is coming together. At the beginning of the season we anticipated encounters with our opponents by highlighting their dangermen, so it is good to know that sides who play us are now looking beyond Kedwell and Main (brilliant though they are!) and highlighting the likes of Gregory, Moore, even Wellard as stand out performers.

Yes, despite our recent run of form we probably won’t have the consistency this year to make the playoffs. If we do we will come unstuck against the experience of a York or Stevenage over two legs, but even missing out completely will be ok so long as the progression and momentum that has been built up continues throughout the campaign.

I remember a few scoffers writing off the likes of Wellard, Gregory and of course Hatton at the start of the season. All of those players have shown a huge improvement. In fact even the more ‘mature’ players have improved their game. Plus as a unit they are coming together all the time, as the side start to exceed the value of its parts as even the best sides should.

Moving onto the two cup games, its good to hear that Terry Brown will be taking a strong side down to Ash on Tuesday. Despite no longer technically being a first team competition, the county cups will be more than useful for giving our fringe players a run-out. With the size of our squad and the poor quality of opposition our reserves face, going all the way in both of these competitions would see two of these fixtures a month until the end of the season.

Plus the Ash assistant manager is Matt Everard. Reason if any to get yourself down there on Tuesday night!

AFC Wimbledon 0 York City 1 – A Match Report

I think we were a little spoiled by our early home form. We got used to certain teams with huge budgets turning up at Kingsmeadow and not walking away with the three expected points. Well, except Oxford, but even they knew they had been in a fight. Then, at the start of October, bigger boys from The North started arriving, rolling up their sleeves and bullying us out of the game.

Yesterdays game drew comparisons with our previous two home games, except this week our potent strike force never even looked like they were going to bail us out of trouble. We only managed one shot on target all afternoon. In fact, I’m starting to get used to getting home on a Saturday evening feeling a bit down.

It seems as though the combination of players we have at the moment we can’t beat teams like York at home at the moment. It will be a different game when we travel up there in March, but right now it seems no matter how much of a fight they put up, our current crop were always going to be hanging on against a powerful side. It’s the difference between us challenging for a playoff place and spending the season in mid-table, which now looks likely.

So what was wrong with our lineup yesterday? Working from back to front, there were two clear weaknesses, our goalkeeper and our midfielder. I always thought Sebb Brown was a strange signing, yet over the course of the season when he was called upon to deputise for James Pullen he seemed to have drummed the simple errors out of his game. As a shot stopper he is competent, yet his distribution left a lot to be desired. Time and again he gave up possession with a series of kicks that found touch. I know conditions were poor, but a degree of concentration would have ensured the ball would arrive somewhere near its target.

Several players, as well as the manager, showed a great deal of frustration at this, and I’m not sure it would have been helped by the requirement of our entire team to pack out the area from corners and set pieces in order to protect his aerial deficiencies. This again gave up possession as it meant Wimbledon either had to hoof the ball clear, giving up the ball yet again, or try to play their way out of danger –  which lead to the only goal of the game.

I have mentioned in the past that we will have the same issues if we draft in young Jack Turner in terms of having to protect him, but honestly, why not? At least he is positive about coming for high balls. Plus he has a kick that would put any in this division to shame. I understand the theory that Sebb is being used to make the mistakes so Jack doesn’t have to at this early stage of his career, a first team start would be invaluable to his progress. Just send him out there, tell him there is no pressure on him and see whether he takes it. If it doesn’t work, bring Sebb back until Pullen recovers. If this really is a season of building experience, now we have a chance to give a start to a player who could well be our number one in a couple of years time.

The visitors physical nature showed up our midfield as the paperweight unit it is. To be fair to them, they didn’t give the ball away very much, but thats mainly down to them failing to win possession back very often. Plus when Sam Hatton turns out to be your midfield enforcer – well absolutely no disrespect to Sam intended, I though apart from the goal he had one of his better games and looked like the only midfielder capable of winning the ball in the air – but when you find yourself relying on him to win the ball back because no-one else will, then your going to have problems in this league.

It seems strange that Terry didn’t go for a tough midfielder, someone who is strong from box to box and isn’t going to lose out very much in a challenge. Someone who can lead the midfield, and who the younger players can play around and learn from. We saw this deficiency yesterday and it was like playing with a man short. While perhaps I have been one of the worst culprits in glossing over our midfield problems, it’s now the elephant in the room that we cannot avoid to ignore if we have any remaining ambition of putting together a run in the New Year.

The question is, will Terry take the opportunity to do this in January or will he allow the current bunch to lay out a season of comparative mediocrity? Although I have to point out, Steven Gregory is a really good player. You can see him playing at a higher level in future, and playing alongside the right mix of team mates he could be one of the men who help us out of the division. But Elliott Godfrey was lightweight. He tried really hard but he never got into the action. And Lewis Taylor just didn’t get into the game, mainly down to some fussy refereeing going against him.

On the subject of the referee, and moving to the game itself, he wasn’t going to let York use their strength to simply steamroller us. York started the better of the two sides without ever creating anything worth noting down, but I do remember Michael Rankine blasting well wide in the opening couple of minutes. Instead it was all about the antics of the York players, mainly their front two, and their baffling efforts to unsettle the Dons back line.

On another day Rankine would have been booked for an ugly early challenge on Lorraine, who seemed to be targeted by the visitors. It seemed a strange decision, as the big Dons defender kept his cool well – initially. It was Richard Brodie’s turn to have a go a few minutes later, where with the ball out of play he rushed towards Lorraine before barging into him, only to collapse onto the ground himself. It was actually one of the funniest comedy falls I’ve seen in a long while, and drew big laughs around the ground. Brodie naturally received a yellow, although the home crowd didn’t forget his intentions, booing him on the few occasions he found the ball at his feet.

Brodie and Rankine certainly look like a couple of beasts, Brodie himself could do with a mask and a chainsaw and I think he would have found his true vocation in the movies, whereas Rankine looks like the sort of person you see on real life documentaries, living on death row in Louisiana for eating babies. And it was Rankine who had the best chance of the first half, meeting a cross from the right only yards out but steering it well over the bar. If anything this outbreak of football was a mere interference to the more entertaining battle that was taking place.

Rankine was next in the book after a ‘collision’ with the unflustered Lorraine, and to the crowd’s delight Danny Parsloe beat him into the book for his excessive protests. The referee counted out the number of fouls Rankine had made, as usual pointing to nowhere near where these fouls took place but making his point. At this point Lorraine had the beating of his two rivals, and could have really pushed the pair of them later in the half had he not snapped himself, after another Rankine foul he pointed out that Rankine was treading a fine line a little too firmly and found himself in the book as well.

Overall an interesting but ultimately fruitless war ended from that point with all parties seeming to accept a draw. The fun and games were put aside as all parties put their minds firmly back on the football. Not that there was much taking place. York had the better of possession but they couldn’t turn it into chances. And in injury time of the first half Danny Kedwell managed what turned out to be Wimbledon’s only effort on target, taking down a ball on the left edge of the area before striking firmly towards the near post but easily smothered by the otherwise untested Michael Ingham.

Half time came as a relief with the hope that Terry might find those few magic words that could spark our misfiring team to life. A swooping flock of parakeets dived down in front of the Tempest and added a bit of colour to the occasion, but before anyone could ask whether they fancied displacing our problem pigeons they were gone. Still, they added a bit of colour to an otherwise drab afternoon…

The teams returned to the field and it quickly became apparent that it was the visitors who were most likely to take the game. Kicking towards their large but relatively quiet contingent of 400 or so in the KRE they seemed a step ahead of Wimbledon. Yet it took them a while to create anything, and the Dons had a couple of half chances. First a deep corner from the left was met by Lorraine, who nodded back into the six yard box. For a moment it seemed as though Brett Johnson was about to apply the finish from yards out but was beaten by a York head to turn it round for another flag kick. This corner was taken short and ultimately cleared, only as far as Steven Gregory, whose low effort was deflected into the air and just past the top left corner.

It must have woken York up for the need to find a goal of their own. A number of corners were cleared in desperation by the Dons defence, which even included Jon Main leaving very little choice but to hand possession back to York. Then a deep cross was met at the far post by Brodie, kept out via a desperate arm of Brown before the crossbar, the ball eventually hooked away to relative safety. I wrote in my notes that Wimbledon would be lucky to survive this spell, and like clockwork the goal came.

A couple of Dons defenders had chances to clear the ball before it fell to Sam Hatton in space on the right side of the Wimbledon box. With nothing ahead of him Hatton tried to dribble clear, only to be easily nudged off the ball for it to be returned at an angle for Rankine to meet with a firm header that gave Brown no chance. It was unfortunate for Hatton, who up to that point had been a man of the match contender thanks to his no-nonsense tackling and aerial ability, but it taught him that there are certain times when you can’t play football, and have to weigh up the percentages and knock it clear. If that means booting it into touch and regrouping then so be it. I get the impression they will have to learn th hard way a few more times this campaign before it finally sinks in…

With their backs against the walls a fight back looked unlikely, even with nearly half an hour of football to play. The referee had helped the Dons in the first half with his no-nonsense approach to infringements, but seemed to have taken a disliking to Lewis Taylor. Playing in his usual free role on the right, Taylor found himself tugged back time and again only to see the award go against him. I can’t be too unfair on the referee here, he did have a decent game when many others would have lost control, and maybe it was down to Taylor’s strange habit of waving his arms around like a man lost at sea whenever he gets involved in a footrace with an opposition player.

Gregory struck wide of the left post from distance with twenty-five minutes to go, yet Wimbledon only looked like they had half a chance of getting back on terms following the introduction of Luke Moore to replace Godfrey. He immediately looked the most impressive player on the pitch, picking up a ball on the left before finding the touch-line and prodding past Ingham across the six yard line, only to see Hatton beaten to the ball by a despairing York challenge.

Moore set about unsuccessfully trying to pick a hole through the York defense, one strong run from his own half was crudely halted by an unidentified York man on the edge of the box. With the ability to get everyone behind the ball it was no surprise that Hattons low free kick failed to beat the wall.

And that was pretty much it. Conroy made way for Montague as Terry Brown switched to 3-4-3 for the remaining few minutes, but this was to little effect. Really you had to question the decision to bring on Montague who never really looked like putting in a challenge capable of winning the ball, especially as Moore’s introduction had suggested perhaps bringing on Cumbers might have produced results while trying to play through York, and created space for Main and Kedwell.

Neither of the front two had a bad game, Kedwell forced back to defend all too often and Main isolated as his team mates dropped further and further. But to get the most of our talented front to we need to start creating chances for them. I think back to the number of chances Main wasted against Luton, Eastbourne and the like, and how he would just gobble up those kind of openings now he is back in form.

Perhaps the chances will come on Tuesday, and the Dons will regain a bit of confidence before a tough trip to Kidderminster next weekend. But before we can think of a comfortable win on Tuesday, we need to think about making sure of the win. Ebbsfleet have had their problems this season and are very much there for the taking, if Wimbledon feel the pressure too much to find a home performance we could find ourselves with all sorts of problems… and would a big win just paper over the cracks?

AFC Wimbledon v York City – A Match Preview

Woah, its been a while since I’ve done one of these… I’m feeling a little out of my comfort zone right now and I’m not sure how to begin. What about…. Ireland. Well I have to say I am surprised by the amount of English people furious over Henry’s assist on Wednesday. I thought it was hilarious. Yet while it was great to see the Irish suffer, the last people you would want to see benefit would be the bloody French… still, one of them had to lose I suppose…

A quick search on google reveals 308,000,000 results for ‘York French’ compared to ‘York Irish’, so presumably using that super-scientific method our northern chums with their Francophile links would probably agree with me on this.

York fans have had their own share of owner related embarrassments over the last few years thanks mainly to a certain John Batchelor. The man who seems to have picked up the franchise madness ball that Winkie first punted northwards from Selhurst Park in 2002 and run with it as far as his legs would carry him. Fortunately (unfortunately for York City at the time) the only time he actually got his hands on the reigns was at Bootham Crescent back in 2002. He was eventually ousted a year or so later, but not before he had changed the York badge and kit so as to feature a chequered flag to represent his previous career as a racing driver. Still his tale has been well documented elsewhere, and sorry to bring him up again, but you just know that someone, somewhere will be stupid enough to sell up to him again.

What else of York? Well I once was taken to the railway museum there when I was just a youngster, and the whole experience was enough to leave me with a lifelong warm glow whenever York is mentioned. Roll on March! A quick glance at a map reveals this would defeat Bradford in the ‘Most Northerly Ground I Ever Visited’ stakes. For some reason I thought my trip to Gillette Stadium in freezing cold New England would have sewn that one up, however it turns out it’s the most southerly stadium I have visited for a game. I’ve only just found that the UK is on the same longitude as Newfoundland… thank god for that Gulf Stream, eh?!

Dons news now, and just when it appeared that he had wormed his way into the starting eleven thanks to some selflessly brave performances in the heart of the defence, reports suggest that Alan Inns may have suffered cruciate knee ligament damage, potentially ending his season and (dare I say it?) his Wimbledon career. We have been good to our injured players especially those who suffer serious knee injuries, although we have had more than our fair share of them over the last couple of years. Inns will get the chance to come back and prove himself at the club, but I just get the impression there will be new faces competing for his position when he gets back.

Sebb Browns inclusion still worries me. He did play well against Barrow, allegedly, yet I still feel he has an error or two in him per game. The worry is he could single-handedly destroy our season if he has a real shocker of a month until Jamie Pullen comes back, by the time he does we could find ourselves out of contention in the league and having crashed from the FA Trophy at the first hurdle. Presumably another cruciate victim, Andy Little, will be looking on envious as he would have been given several chances to claim the number one jersey for himself had he been fit.

Top scorer Danny Kedwell is back however, to lead the line at the possible expense of Ross Montague. Did Montague play well after being given his big chance against Barrow? TB seems to think so, but not many of you seem to agree with him… having said that I’m still going to go with Terry’s opinion, I know how some of you lot think! As many long time readers will remember I was really looking forward to the long trek north, until I found out it clashed with my birthday… therefore with a complete lack of video evidence the Barrow game could have taken place in Narnia for all I know. Perhaps Montague has been left there, as Terry Brown has trumpeted the return of Luis Cumbers to the bench this Saturday.

Apparently Luis has had a bad case of the sniffles recently, ruling him out of the first two weeks of his loan spell that alarmingly hasn’t yet been extended beyond that initial month. Not to worry, after all he might end up being rubbish, but one thing is for sure – the boy Cumbers will get one of the best receptions ever seen for a substitute at Kingsmeadow since Steve Gibson replaced Nick Roddis after 58 minutes of the home game against Tooting on 30th October 2004… though to be fair that had little to do with young Gibson…

The club are expecting a big crowd tomorrow, presumably due to post-Millwall euphoria… or just the fact it seems like we have gone a month without a home game. And then we get two games in four days! Woo! They can’t be expecting a massive turnout from York as they are only getting half the KRE, so presumably the lure of an ex-League club is expected to bring out the part-timers. Especially an ex-League club that has put together a decent side this season. Our home form has been rubbish recently, but perhaps the return of a hero from days of yore will be enough to nudge the game in our favour? It’s too close to call, so we can only hope little positives like this work in our favour.

The General Specific (Tuesday 17th November ’09)

I haven’t written for a while, thanks to the ‘real world’ gate crashing my blogging party last week. Not that I didn’t try, but I will spare the world my car crash effort of a Millwall report. How something so positive could turn into something absolutely depressing is beyond me, and I wrote it…

A few belated thoughts on Millwall. If we put in that sort of performance against Conference opposition week in, week out, we will undoubtedly be up among the playoff contenders at the end of the season. Yet the memories that will last longest in my head will undoubtedly be the fantastic atmosphere in the stands that night (sorry Lewis…). We can only dream of the days we get the chance to repeat that on a regular basis, until then there is a chance we could suffer from post-FA Cup syndrome, not just on the pitch but in the stands as well. Can we not all try our best to recreate that atmosphere at Kingsmeadow?

I know that its tougher as we are more spread around, but the lower roofs can aid us. It shouldn’t just be the handfull in the Tempest who keep the atmosphere going, it should be coming from all sides of the ground. I resolve to sing a bit more from my usual position behind the dugout, rather than just loudly abuse the officials/opposition when things aren’t going our way.

I wasn’t at Barrow on Saturday, it coincided with my birthday, and my wife lined up a day of birthday celebrations. Which ultimately ended in a row at the Indian restaurant we went to eat at. It was a nice meal and all, but the customer service was shocking. If you ever find yourself in Surbiton and fancy a curry, don’t visit Joy in Brighton Road! There are another three you can visit within 100 yards anyway, which means my search for a new curry house will not be a long one…

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t earn my supporter stripes by joining the longest and most awkward trip of the season… and I still haven’t seen the Dons play north of Bradford. Bring on York and Gateshead thats all I can say! A few comments on the game if I may. I keep hearing reference to a Lewis Taylor dummy in not-so complementary terms, but I can’t look back far enough on the guestbook to find out what happened (well done to the Gimps for keeping the guestbook open, by the way). I’ll leave commentary on that to the 337 travelling Dons…

It seems as though Sebb Browns appearance earned glowing reviews, which is good news considering Jamie Pullen is now out for a month with a cracked ankle bone. I intitially though Jack Turner should be given his League debut, but for Sebb to come along and turn in a decent performance, it really takes the pressure off the manager perhaps being tempted into that. Plus if Jack comes in and has a terrible spell it could damage his confidence and actually hinder his development. Remember, Sebb is expendable in that sense, Jack certainly shouldn’t be.

On the subject of our young goalkeeping prodigy, his performance in the last round of the Youth Cup inspired my early optimism that he may be promoted to the first team. I think I mentioned in my report, he really looked like a man among boys, and is like a twelfth man for the side. He is in action, along with his promising colleagues, in the Second Round tomorrow at Kingsmeadow. I can’t stress enough how important it would be to the lads if a decent crowd turned out for this one. It would be tough to pick out one to look out for, but keep an eye open in particular for the two tricky, pacy forwards Matt Harmsworth and James Cottee, as well as captain Harry Knock.

This is the first time the Under 18’s have played a League sides youth setup in competitive football, mainly due to this being the first time the young Dons have qualified for the tournament proper. Bournemouth may be a league club, but with a decent home crowd firmly behind them, who knows? Perhaps they can teach the First team a thing or two about beating Football League sides, and in the process become the first Dons side in the AFC era to play on a Premier League ground, as a trip to the Reebok awaits the winner of this tie.

As for the first team, well a visit from York is going to be tough, especially with our home record in recent weeks. With a packed fixture list between now and Christmas (especially if we require a replay in our FA Trophy first round game), its time to get some form together. The New year could bring a gentle run towards midtable, or a decent Trophy run coupled with a playoff push, and I have a feeling the next few weeks will determine which we will see…

Second Thoughts… Cambridge United 12.9.09

First off, there will be no further mention by me of Sebb Brown. At least as far as Saturdays performance is concerned. It appears that I am in the minority relating to my opinion of Browns reliability and potential, but hey, I’m not going to apologise for speaking my mind. It was an opinion, thats all, and its good to know I can disagree with the majority of the fanbase… I was starting to think we had developed some kind of mass shared conscience for a second…

The question I should really be dwelling on is whether this was a point gained or two points dropped? We obviously had a few hairy moments, but my overall feeling was Cambridge were there for the taking. Plus after playing Luton and Oxford at home, with Wrexham to come, I wonder how we will fare in the reverse fixtures. Plus we must also take into account (and this is purely my opinion) that we have been playing just as well away as we have at home.

Yes we have only conceded three goals at home in our four games, but going to places like Kettering and Altrincham and coming away with the points may sound simple but in practice is a whole lot harder. Plus coming from two down at Tamworth was no cakewalk. I think we will learn a lot more about our side over the next couple of weeks, where all the games seem winnable (even that Tuesday night trip to Rushden).

Anyway, some match ratings…

Brown    5

Conroy    6

Hussey    6

Gregory    5

Lorraine    7

Johnson    8

Hatton    5

Wellard    5

Kedwell    5

Moore    5

Duncan    5

SUBS

Main    6

Taylor    5

Montague    6

AFC Wimbledon 0 Cambridge United 0 – A Match Report

I made the mistake of reading the report Sam Elliott wrote in todays NLP before writing this. I normally avoid all reports of the game until I have completed mine, but as the NLP has a wider audience it has to cater for I thought, what the heck! And it was a good job I did, as it appears Sam had read my mind and gone for the ‘Two Leading Scorers Involved In Goalless Draw Shocker’ angle. So I best steer clear of that…

The other angle I was looking at that does deserve comment in this little introduction is the performance of our rookie backup keeper Sebb Brown. As those of you who stuck with me through pre-season will know, I had little faith in Brown during his trial period, and was amazed Terry signed him on a contract. Yet despite having three excellent goalkeepers at the club we did need someone to act as cover, as big Andy Little won’t be fit until December at the earliest and Brown T has made it clear that our promising reserve keeper Jack Turner needs another season or two in the reserves until he gets thrown in at the deep end.

Naturally I was worried about Brown S being trusted with his first start, although there was little choice in the decision. Turner really doesn’t have the experience, and Sebb was presumably signed on a short term contract until Little is back. I would imagine that Brown T saw him as the best available with the money he had left in the budget, after all there were much better keepers who would have been prepared to sit on our bench, albeit for a price…

So how did young Sebb get on? He must have done ok, as he kept a clean sheet right? I will answer this question at the end of this match report, which is coming up… well, now.

The visitors created the first opportunity of the game as Robbie Willmott found space in the left channel and fired over from twenty yards. The Dons responded with some crisp passing football which lead to Chris Hussey finding Ricky Wellard in space, and once the promising midfielder had got the ball from under his feet he blasted just over the top corner.

The game was only four minutes old at this stage, and seemed likely to pan out as the script had suggested. Yet an example of the brilliant defending that kept the Dons clean sheet in tact was about to occur. A Cambridge forward to a shot that was blocked, however Brown had reacted to the shot and found himself lying helpless on the floor. Another (unidentified) Cambridge player found the ball at his feet with the whole of the near post to aim at on the right side of the area, yet delayed slightly. As supporters in the John Smiths stand prepared to take a sharp intake of breathe as the ball hit the Dons net, Brett Johnson came out of nowhere to divert the effort away for a corner.

Johnson went on to claim the sponsors Man of the Match award, and rightly so despite some stiff competition from the rest of the back line. I have been very impressed with Johnson since his summer move from Brentford. He complements Paul Lorraine well, and although Lorraine may take the plaudits for being pretty much unbeatable both in the air and on the ground, Johnson is also a rock at the back yet combines this with an excellent football brain that puts him almost in optimum position to clear any danger with minimal fuss time and again.

Cambridge obviously came with a game plan that involved putting pressure on the young keeper, especially at set plays. Unfortunately this also involved a number of occasions when free-kicks were, erm, ‘earned’ by the visitors who had a number of players displaying great fondness for the Kingsmeadow turf. While these came in dangerous positions they were expertly dealt with by a Dons back line intent on protecting their vulnerable custodian.

There was nothing the Dons defence could do seventeen minutes into the half, however, as Brown attacked an overhit long ball before realising it would sail over his head. Danny Crow had the jump on both the retreating Brown and Paul Lorraine, yet after deciding to control the ball before slotting home from an angle he somehow contrived to allow Lorraine back in to challenge, not even winning a corner for his troubles.

For the second time in the game the Dons were able to breathe a sigh of relief after Cambridge fluffed their lines, yet both chances came with an element of luck rather than intensive Cambridge pressure (professionally won free kicks disregarded). The Dons showed they wouldn’t be allowing their playoff rivals the run of the game (lets face it, Oxford should ease away with their headstart…) with some consistent pressure for the remainder of the half.

Hussey in particular was causing Cambridge some concern down the left. Yet it was fellow survivor of the Ryman days Sam Hatton who created the next opportunity from this flank, whipping over a deep ball from a freekick that found Kedwell at the far post. Yet the Dons top scorer was given too much to do with a defender in close attendance and could only guide his header over the bar.

A moment later Luke Moore floated a dangerous looking ball towards Derek Duncan that was well intercepted by a Cambridge man and sent out for a corner. The eventual flag kick was part cleared only as far as Wellard, who scuffed a shot that trundled through a crowd of players before bobbling wide of the right post.

The Dons were really turning the screw on the visitors as just seconds later Luke Moore brilliantly blocked an attempted clearance allowing him a run on goal from the left touchline. Moore squared for Hatton waiting at the far post for a simple finish, yet somehow a Cambridge defender was on hand to turn the ball away.

Sam Hatton drifted a freekick right-of-centre wide of the left post later in the half, but it was still the diving ways of certain Cambridge players that was upsetting Terry Brown the most, at one point during injury time he yelled ‘Your just giving them the game!’ towards the official after yet another tame freekick was given the visitors way.

At half time we were treated to the spectacle of a Womble and a Moose firing penalties at each other. I couldn’t tell if it was a European Moose or one of the Eastern Moose that I’m used to seeing on my regular trips to New Hampshire, but either way I didn’t realise they were also natives of Cambridgeshire… I’ll be sure to check out the ‘Brake For Moose’ signs that undoubtedly surround the roads heading towards the Abbey Stadium. Having said that, back in June I wrote this…

As well as this they have something called Marvin The Moose as their mascot, who according to their website wears ‘oversized antlers and preposterously large boots’ – make sure they bring him to Kingsmeadow then as it sounds as though he could be someone Haydon could actually beat in a penalty shootout!

Whether Haydon did in fact win the shootout I don’t know, largely because, for the second game running, the John Smith Stand regulars were treated to a shower as the pitch watering hose thingy came off its attachment and sprayed water over a large group, shooting upwards like a geyser. Still, it washed away the lingering smell of piss… and its been a while since I had a shower myself…

Back on the pitch, Martin Ling must have emphasised the need to keep the pressure on young Brown. Whether the Cambridge players took this a little too literally or the instruction came from the manager himself we will never know, yet directly from kickoff the ball was rolled to Danny Crow who fired an effort that dropped out of the sky towards te top corner. Sebb looked like a small animal in the glare of a trucks headlights as he positioned himself under it, requiring a last minute lung to the right to tip it over, colliding with the post as he did so.

My first comment about this is why Crow required a rolling ball to strike rather than just hitting it from a dead position. Its been a few years since the rules have changed and I can’t think of anyone who as scored direct from a restart since then, so you would think Crow might have tried his luck at that record while trying. Surely its easier to hit a dead ball anyway?

Secondly it led to a spell of pressure by Cambridge straight from the off. A couple of corners had to be cleared before the Dons could get in the game. Perhaps if you had a couple of players who could consistently hit a ball on or around the crossbar it might not ba a bad way of starting a half. It certainly beats whacking the ball out for a throw as far into opposition territory as you can…

Wimbledon struck back as a Sam Hatton flick-on sent Jay Conroy behind on the right flank. Conroy laid an intelligent ball across the six yard box which was just missed by a sliding Luke Moore, who could only get his studs on the ball and divert it wide.

It took another ten minutes or so until we saw the games next chance as the chance ratio went quiet for a little while. It took Cambridge centre-half Wayne Hatswell to shake the game from its slumbers, as he moved forward and hit one from distance. Unfortunately for the visitors the ball ended up high in the Tempest, but it did spur the visitors into action to actually get the ball in the net a couple of minutes later.

Well, I say put the ball in the net, but the effort barely deserved the tag ‘disallowed goal’ as the linesman had his flag up well in advance, and the Dons defence seemed to have stopped such was the extent of the offside. Still, the referee seemed to run towards the half way line vaguely pointing towards the centre circle (or was it for a free kick to the Dons). Eventually he ran to his assistant, strangely doing so backwards and not looking at his colleague until he was next to him.

It was at this stage that experienced Dons watchers such as myself started to worry. Despite the obvious illegitimacy of the effort, it wouldn’t have been beyond belief that this particular refereewould award the goal. He eventually signalled for a free kick in a manner that suggested he was trying to let us know the delay wasn’t caused by him losing the plot, he just did things like this sloooowwwwwlyyyyyy.

He was back up to speed before too long, and the Dons management team were getting frustrated by Danny Kedwell. They were under the belief that the official would start giving fouls the Dons way sooner rather than later to redress the balance. The problem was the big forward wasn’t getting into positions to receive the ball in order to be fouled. It was a different Kedwell we saw in the second half, making us wonder whether someone had dropped something into his tea during the break.

It could have been substitute Ross Montgomery, the most likely player to replace Kedwell. Either way Terry Browns regular sixtieth minute substitution involved Wellard being removed for Lewis Taylor to add some width down the right. In the sixty-seventh minute came the dons hallelujah moment, a free-kick awarded in a good position on the right flank.

Hussey delivered an inswinger deep towards the far post. U’s keeper Danny Potter strayed towards the ball before deciding against it, and found himself out of position as Lorraine got round the back and nodded the ball over him. With no keeper between the sticks Johnson got up to meet the ball from six yards out but under pressure, and with players on the line, could only direct it over the bar.

It probably counted as Wimbledon’s best chance of the game so far, but more chances were to follow. Another Hussey free-kick found its way to Johnson who could only flick well over the bar. Yet Cambridge were creating as well, a U’s forward seemingly having a clear shot on goal until the King of Blocks himself, Jay Conroy, threw himself in front of the ball.

This lead to a bit of a scramble during which Cambridge’s Jai Reason did himself no favours, firstly by throwing himself unconvincingly to the floor, then chasing Derek Duncan after the Dons forward had tried to help him up (admittedly by yanking him by his shirt until it got stuck over Reasons head…) and pushing him with some force. Of course the referee had apparently seen none of this, despite cautioning Johnson and Moore early on for nothing challenges, this assault proved unworthy of the referee’s attention.

Brown T had finally seen enough on seventy-three minutes and decided to introduce Ross Montague. It was Danny Kedwell who found himself withdrawn after seeing himself increasingly cast as an onlooker as the game had progressed. Montague looks a similar type of target man to Kedwell, despite not looking as though he is as good in the air as the Dons top scorer he still gave the impression of being the sort of player who doesn’t mind receiving the ball with his back to goal, feeding team-mates.

He was in the action straight away launching a break, and while his shot was blocked the ball fell nicely for Lewis Taylor on the right, who could only drag his shot across goal and wide of the left post. Luke Moore was the next to come close, as he found space in the left side of the area but could only drill low straight at Potter.

Browns last throw of the dice saw Derek Duncan replaced by Jon Main, looking to exploit the tiring Cambridge defence. With five minutes to go Mains persistance won a corner on the right. Hussey hit his usual inswinger, met at the near post by Sam Hatton whose flicked header flew across the goal and drifted wide of the far post, with no Dons forward on hand to turn the ball in.

Then with about ten minutes to go Montague fed a well weighted ball into the path of Luke Moore, setting him free down the left. Moore’s first touch was heavy, giving Potter the chance to close him down, and in the end Moore had to stretch to reach the ball first, seeing it bobble off the keeper and roll away with Moore still on the deck following his effort.

The Dons final chance came after a scare in their own box, with Hatswell firing over. A free-kick was awarded on the left in prime Sam Hatton territory. Hatton had been the victim of some abuse from a guy standing near me who I identified early on. He had a cap on which I think was hiding ginger hair, a wispy beard and… looked like he had never kicked a ball in his life. So I was all ready to get right up in his face when the ball flew into the top corner (as has previously been discussed on a certain guest book, he pays his money to spout this crap, therefore I have the right as a paying customer to lay into him if I chose to…). 

Unfortunately Sam blazed over. Which kind of summed the game up. And in the very unlikely event that Sam reads this, I can’t really stand up for you when you have had a poor game. However, and bringing the report back to Sebb Brown who I thought looked out of his depth, while critical of the decision to sign him, at no stage did it strike me that it would be a good idea to shout abuse at him. I wasn’t screaming for Terry to haul him off and bring Turner on, as this would have obviously been the wrong decision to make regarding both players.

And thats my opinion. Sebb isn’t a Conference keeper at the moment. Not that it’s really relevant, as Jamie Pullen should be back for the Ebbsfleet game, and with Andy Little returning it could have been his last game for the club. But as for his performance yesterday… ignoring the error, which wasn’t punished, he did as well as he could have been expected to. He made a couple of routine saves, and despite not seeming confident enough to catch the ball he did come and punch a couple of crosses clear. In other words, behind our admittedly strong defence, he didn’t concede for a game and a half. And that if nothing else deserves at least a little credit.

Sebb Brown

As those of you who have read my match reports will remember, I was against the signing of Sebb Brown. I felt that judging by the performances he had given, he wasn’t good enough to trust sitting on the bench for us. However Terry Brown is the man who ultimately decides who plays for Wimbledon and who doesn’t, and while I disagreed initially with any possibility of offering him a contract, he has signed for us now. He is a Wimbledon player, and can therefore expect my full support as a Wimbledon supporter.

Welcome to AFC Wimbledon, Sebb. The mistakes he made in pre-season can now be put down to the pressure of trying to earn a contract with the club. I’m hoping now should Sebb ever be called on he will really make me eat my words by showing the promise he undoubtedly has – he can certainly count on the support of every Wimbledon fan if and when he makes his debut for the club.

There is a time and a place for criticism. In the pub after the game. On the guestbook later in the evening. Or perhaps even on blogs like this in response to my match report. There will undoubtedly be players on the pitch on Saturday that you perhaps don’t rate as highly as our manager does. But as soon as the lads cross that white line, you have a duty to support your team. If you missed my full article relating to supporter behaviour on Wednesday you can find it here…

https://anonymousdon.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/a-heartfelt-plea-to-everyone-fortunate-enough-to-have-a-ticket-for-saturday-and-for-the-season-beyond/

AFC Wimbledon 2 Fulham XI 1 – A Match Report

This game wasn’t really men against boys… perhaps boys and some men against boys. Although Fulham keeper Pascal Zuberbuhler, with experience of World Cups and Euro Championships under his belt, probably pushed the average up a few years. However, Zubi was the only recognizable name on the field… at least as far as Fulham were concerned.

Wimbledon had two men who were in the last chance saloon as far as a contract is concerned. Big Callum Willock actually turned up for training on Monday, so was rewarded with an hour tonight to show what he can do. Now we all know what I think about Sebb Brown, who was due for a half hour turnout, so in a completely one off feature called SebbWatch I decided to record his every involvement in the game. I had the impression that Brown was as an accident prone goalkeeper who had somehow bumbled through three trial appearances without making an error that lead to a goal being conceded.

But Terry, and presumably his goalkeeping adviser (Still Paul Priddy?) seemed content enough to give him another chance tonight, and it only required an accident free evenings work to gain a contract via the back door. Perhaps there was something I was missing, something he had shown plenty of in training but for some reason just hadn’t translated itself during his match appearances?

Of course an Anonymous Don match report wouldn’t be complete without an update on my own personal circumstances, and I won’t disappoint. To be honest it had been a completely normal day with the exception of lunch time when I somehow snapped the filling on my front tooth while biting into a plum at lunch. A quick call to the dentist revealed that not only do I have to spend £££’s getting it fixed, but I have to wait until the 6th August until I can get it done.

The problem is, I am currently growing out my wavy hair, and it doesn’t always work. Plus I’m going through a ‘chubby phase’. Then there’s my beloved beard. And I wear clothes that look like they have been picked out at random from Oxfam (but are surprisingly expensive…). None of these on their own would be a problem, but the combination of all of them together, plus the chipped tooth, makes me look… how can I put this? Well, on a bad day I could probably pass for a Bromley fan…

The local midges know a pikey when they see one, and made a bee-line for me as soon as I entered the ground, before somehow realising their mistake and leaving me alone. Either that or I mistook flykiller spray for my deodorant… They did spend a great deal of time hovering in the lights in front of the John Smith Stand, almost hypnotising really, if there hadn’t been a quite decent football game going on beyond them.

Midfield Action

Fulham’s young side were eager to keep the ball on the deck and play to their strengths, whereas Wimbledon played a hybrid game to begin with, working the ball through midfield with some excellent movement, but also looking to make use of Willock’s aerial ability. With an excellent touch for a big guy, Willocks was to be a thorn in Fulham’s side from the off. He was to create the Dons first opening on ten minutes, some nifty footwork taking him inside a defender before a left footed finish which was tame at best, flying harmlessly into Zuberbuhlers arms.

At this stage the young Fulham were already on the back foot, and only fashioned their first chance of sorts approximately fifteen minutes in when their number 6 (sorry, no names again tonight for the Fulham boys…) let fly from distance, curling harmlessly well over the bar. If Fulham thought this was a rangefinder that would help lever them back in the game, they were mistaken only minutes later as Wimbledon won a corner on the right. Chris Hussey trotted over to take, and fed the ball to Sam Hatton, level with the edge of the area. The change of angle fooled Fulham, and Hatton curled an immaculate ball onto Willock’s head, the big man rising unchallenged to bury his header.

So far so good. It served for a mini-fightback from Fulham, their striker no. 9 found himself clear in the box, blinked, and found Jamie Pullen on top of him. The Dons stopper spread himself well to deny the panic stricken finish that followed. A couple of minutes later their number 10 found himself clear in the right channel, only to direct his shot wide at the near post. Willock showed his aerial strength to divert a clearance into the path of Lewis Taylor, twenty yards out and to the right of goal. His early shot was a good idea and firmly hit, but sadly too close to the Fulham keeper who saved easily. Still a great move and a great example of the strength Willock has, although interestingly he sometimes appeared to hold a lot back in challenges – perhaps as a response to referees calling fouls against him in the past? As far as niggly fouls were concerned in this game, it was Fulham who were giving them away left, right and centre – and usually down to their inability to control Willock.

After some more delightful football from the Dons, Taylor was released down the right and his tantalizing cross just evaded Ricky Wellard who seemed destined to score and was millimetres away from making contact. The Dons defence had remained alert throughout this spell of dominance, until of all people Ben Judge tried to do a little too much and the Fulham 10 robbed him, before racing away down the right channel. Pullen was alert to this, and shut the chance down, again forcing a striker into snatching at an effort which he easily blocked.

Willock scores... causing some blurring...

Yet more build up work from that man Willock created a chance for Gregory, who struck a low shot from twenty yards that took a deflection before nestling in the left corner. I haven’t really said much about Gregory, however that’s probably more for what he hasn’t done than what he has. Holding the midfield together has been a problem position for us, even last season where Adjei seemed likely to win the spot by default, despite gifting the ball to the opposition far too often. Steven Gregory made that mistake against Wycombe, but has quietly got on with his job since then, winning the ball, moving it on without fuss, and generally allowing more attacking minded colleagues to get on with it.

An incident just before half time, led to a Fulham chance, a cross came over which was volleyed into the ground by their 14, before the number 10 stabbed a foot at it sending the ball just over. What was important was how the chance came about. A ball into the right corner was a 50/50 between Hussey and his man, in fact Chris even looked a slight favourite if he had just attacked the ball and sent it safely into the stands. He seemed reluctant to do so, instead trying to get himself into a position to block the cross (which at best would have given them a corner). Hussy’s decision making in defensive situations draw attention away from his obvious talent going forward.

It was certainly something I dwelt upon at half-time, as I decided where to stand in the second half. I realised it would be my last chance to stand on the Tempest for a good while, so took up position there. I only lasted five minutes, there wasn’t the same atmosphere you get on a matchday anyway, and I needed my elevated position at the newly raised rear of the John Smith terrace to view the game. Its strange how I always seem to be drawn to that position, ironically a similar view to the one I had when I first watched a Wimbledon team at Plough Lane.

Similar to the first, Willock had the first decent chance of the second half, getting under another great Hatton cross and heading over. This was the only chance in a scrappy opening spell before the substitution. Among those heading off was Willock, given a few cheers of encouragement by some supporters. I had so much hope when planning this article. Would Willock prove to be a decent shout for a start against Luton? How did he compare with Kedwell? Sadly, this was to be the last we will see of him in a Dons shirt… for now at least. I really think Terry knew he had no chance of getting Callum for the money he was offering.

Put yourself in Willocks shoes. He is a career footballer. So he would have been used to earning a certain amount of money. If you had a job on, say, £800 per week, and your bills were £600 p/w, would you be satisfied to take a job for £500 p/w which offered no guarantee of long term security? Or would you take your chances and hold out for a deal that will pay your bills? I have complete sympathy with Willock, in fact judging by Terry’s insistence on him training on Monday and playing last night, perhaps he is entitled to feel we have fucked him around a little bit?

The lads prepare for kick off (in other words a filler as none of the other photos came out on my crappy camera...)

At the same time Jamie Pullen made way for another triallist in a make or break situation. You will have read that I have already lost patience with Sebb Brown. I considered him a goalkeeper capable of making mistakes, albeit one who hadn’t actually made one yet. This being Browns fourth pre-season appearance, I began to doubt myself in the run-up to the game, so decided to pay special attention to him for the last half hour, or SebbWatch as I decided to call it. I’ll come to that at the end of the report…

Main and Kedwell took some time to get into their stride, despite the creative influence of both Godfrey and Moore behind them. If anything they were a bit too keen, Main especially finding himself caught offside all too often. It was only twenty minutes before the end that the Dons really looked like adding to their lead. Two identical chances came in quick succession. Crosses from the right were headed away but only to Dons players lurking on the edge of the box. Firstly Main caught his volley sweetly but sent the ball wide of the left post. Next Gregory hit one firm and low but pretty close to Zuberbuhler, still the fierceness caused the Swiss keeper to require two attempts at collecting .

Into the last ten minutes, and Kedwell drew plaudits including from hi manager after a single touch from a tricky dropping ball saw him turn away from nearby Fulham men, before sending his drive just wide of the near post. This was to be Wimbledon’s last clear cut chance, however they kept the pressure up to the last minute, closing out a well earned victory.

Back down the other end for a review of the last half hour from Sebb Browns perspective, and to be honest, he didn’t have much to do. I was planning on picking out a few dodgy kicks, but they were more than made up for by some excellent distribution, especially from ground kicks. And when he was called on, from a dangerous deep cross, he cleared out an onrushing forward and defender to punch well and far from danger, before the referee blew for a Dons free-kick.

In fact it seemed like he could have earned himself a contract almost by default, when with the last action of the game that error he had been threatening to make came along at the worst possible moment. A poor Fulham effort was bobbling wide, though Brown attempted to collect anyway. Unfortunately he never quite got hold of it, managing to scoop it into the path of a Fulham striker to tuck into the empty net.

Now I’ll never hide the fact I thought it would have been a bad decision to give him a contract, but my heart went out to him at that moment. To produce such an error, wiping out all the good effort he must have put in during training sessions, and to see his dream taken from him ten seconds from the end of his trial period… well you wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

If he had earned that contract he would have had time, away from the spotlight, to work on his game. He could have stepped up when required and rammed the criticism from the likes of me back down our throats. Still, it will be correct to send him on his way now, give him a good reference and hopes he finds a route back via a Ryman League club perhaps…

As the last pre-season game at Kingsmeadow passed into the night, another great performance will raise spirits prior to the Luton game. However right now Terry must be pondering how he found himself back at the beginning as far as the search for a target man and back up keeper are concerned. One positive is at least this time he appears content to wait for the right men, even if this may mean we start the season without them.

AFC Wimbledon v FC United of Manchester – A (Friendly) Match Preview

Tomorrow will see the welcome return of the Supporters Direct Cup to Kingsmeadow, and the even welcomer return of our good friends FC United of Manchester. Always willing to travel south in large numbers, the United support normally create a great atmosphere elevating what should be a run of the mill friendly to something worth winning, and I’m sure Terry has told the players he is expecting a win.

While we consider FCUM as kindred spirits due to their trust ownership, and the media normally straps us together as ‘protest’ clubs, it’s worth remembering that our two extraordinary clubs were formed for entirely different reasons. There’s no value in going into the details of the great betrayal we suffered, although if you want to read all about it on the BBC’s 606 you will find plenty of people who disagree with our very existence as ‘we abandoned our club’… Our aim as a club is to get into the League as soon as possible, to take back what was once stolen from us, and long term to destroy those South Midland club stealers – and to do all this without letting ambition get in the way of long term stability.

FCUM don’t have that urgency to get into the League, and are therefore content for now to focus on their own core reasons for existence. Malcolm Glazer and his collection of strange looking offspring were the straw that broke the camels back (and you have to say its a good job Glazer was loader ‘cos there was no way he was going to get laid in this lifetime without it). United fans want affordable football, to be able to sit/stand with their mates, not to be ripped off week in and week out with ever increasing ticket prices. Plus they have resisted the temptation to slash a slogan across their shirt, and hopefully when they do it will be a gesture towards a charity, as Barcelona have proudly worn the Unicef badge for the last couple of years (although cynics suggest this is to soften up their supporters before a commercial sponsor is introduced).

For them to walk away at a time when big United were at the height of their powers has drawn praise  from all quarters. How often have you heard an Arsenal, Chelsea fan, whoever, start a comment about FCUM with the words ‘I hate Man United but…’. In truth there is a great deal of jealousy for what FCUM have achieved to date from your average Premier League fan, who perhaps hold some hope that football will once again fall from fashion as it has before, and fall back into the hands of those who cherished it through the tough times, local support paying a fair admission price to watch their team.

For that reason I would have expected a greater number of clubs would have reached that tipping point where a critical mass of support decide enough is enough and decide to form another team to hold on to the traditions of the club they love. Of course there is an AFC Liverpool, but they haven’t really caught on and appear to be a cross between publicity stunt and an extension of Liverpool FC’s community arm.

Despite this FCUM have been remarkably successful in their first four seasons. Three successive promotions prior to last season, where despite being in a division full of moneyed clubs and servicing a huge groundshare rental bill, United managed to only miss out on the playoffs on the last day of the season. The Reds are learning as we had previously, that many supporters do not necessarily mean an automatic promotion. There are just as many sugar daddies in the Unibond as there are in the Ryman these days, and the economic meltdown doesn’t seem to have halted this.

FCUM face us off the back of a trip to Bucheon… hang on? Aren’t they supposed to be twinned with us? I know we turned Bucheon down as we had a prearranged trip to… errm… the Isle of Man, but it just seems like when we miss out on something, FCUM pick up the pieces. Remember when Lok Leipzig wanted to play us in a friendly during the season? We turned them down and there was a promise the game would be scheduled for some point in the future, and when it was it turned out AFCW were being elbowed out of the way by FCUM… that should have been us! And what about their trip to Sweden at the end of last season?

Let’s not forget United fans are used to travelling across Europe, it’s been part of their upbringing. On the other hand, we dreamed about playing in Europe, so cruelly denied by a European ban for English clubs that had absolutely nothing to with us in 1988, were given false hope with the Intertoto Cup campaign, even seeing perhaps our best ever team cursed with tiredness despite looking set to qualify via one of three routes. Maybe it was never meant to be. Perhaps the furthest corners of the UK are the most we can ever hope for.

So, on to Wimbledon. The big news being Bossman has gone and a new target man is being lined up for a start tomorrow. So far the mystery man is a big secret except for the information that he is an ‘experienced target man’. This type of player, perhaps with the exception of goalkeepers (more on that later), faces extreme scrutiny from Dons fans who have been spoilt by some of the best in the game over the last twenty years or so (and Danny Webb).

As for our goalkeeper, it seems as though Sebb Brown is getting another run out. At last we have a keeper who deserves the nickname ‘The Cat’, he’s certainly had enough lives so far. After his shaky performance against Wycombe (if you ignore the Hollywood saves toward the end of the half of course), Brown was given a second chance against Brighton, where his only real action was to pick the ball out of the net after seeing it drilled through him as if he wasn’t there. Is Sebb a relative of Terry’s? I think we need to be told!

The truth is my opinion is we already have a better goalkeeper than Brown in Jack Turner. Although Turner is just 17 the phrase ‘if your old enough your good enough’ spring to mind. Jack was given a game on the IOM, yet presumably will be representing the reserves for the remainder of pre-season and beyond, rather than picking up much needed experience against League One opposition. I was also hoping Jack may get a chance to go out on loan at some point to gain first team experience, in the Ryman League, or even the BSS.

The rest of the squad seem to be ticking over nicely. It’s a chance for Chris Hussey to stand up and show what he can do following Derek Duncans Man of the Match performance on Tuesday. Perhaps we will finally see us score at home? Maybe even win another trophy, to bring our tally up to two…

Catch all the action tomorrow, if you can’t make it remember to tune in to WDON and log on to the Matchday Stadium. And if you are at the ground or not you can check my tweets on the game either here in the Twitter feed in the sidebar, or by following me here (http://twitter.com/Anonymous_Don). Remember though, due to the crappy technology I can’t be guaranteed to respond to any of your replies (maybe at half time…). Don’t worry, my phone contract is up later this year and I’m going to make sure I screw the best possible deal out of them this time…

Finally you will remember the legend Paul Raymond offered me his IOM photos earlier in the week, I didn’t take him up on it, but I am now with his picture of the third kit (released tonight, available tomorrow). Enjoy!

Courtesy of Paul Raymond

AFC Wimbledon 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 – A Match Report

Another League One club down at Kingsmeadow last night, and if the games are this good I think we will easily get used to this Wimbledon side. Unfortunate if anything to lose last night, despite playing a side that were superior to them, the Dons looked dangerous every time they ventured forward, and only some harsh luck (or poor finishing, depending on whether your glass is half full or half empty) prevented Wimbledon troubling the scorers… nah, that doesn’t really work in a football context does it. It’s still early in pre-season, give me time!

Unfortunate then that both Brighton goals came from Dons mistakes… although you could say Wimbledon rode there luck as far as the frame of the goal went; including one mighty punt from Albions second half keeper Michael Kuipers that caught out Paul Lorraine and triallist David Wilkinson in goal before bouncing off the top of the cross bar. Of course I didn’t see the ball leave his foot, being preoccupied with tweeting my opinions to the world (perhaps I’ve bitten off more than I can chew? Perhaps… but once again, its still my pre-season).

To bring it back to the beginning for fear of making more excuses for my own poor pre-season reporting, the day didn’t start off well for me – in fact I missed the kickoff. This was due to an early running K1 driver, and a long wait for a 131 in Kingston town centre. I only missed it by a few minutes, this was enough to be late for the team lineups, so for the second home game running I spent most of the game with no idea who was playing for the opposition, at least until one of them scored. So apologies to any Albion fans passing, yet in my defence this is a Wimbledon blog, and (cough) it is very early in the season…

Wimbledon started off brightly, with the first half chance falling to them around five minutes into the game. A ball knocked into the box was half cleared to Luke Garrard on the edge of the area who fired just over. How great it was to see Luke in a Dons shirt again, although he did seem half a step off the pace, very unlike him and probably down to being a week or so behind the rest of the squad as far as game time went, and seeing a though his primary competition for his place Jay Conroy has twice as many minutes under his belt you would have to consider him in prime position for the number two shirt by the time Luton come to town.

Brighton surged back a few minutes later when their 11 found himself in space down the right channel and smashed the ball against the centre of Wimbledon’s crossbar, the ball bouncing down and away while Wilkinson was still grasping air. Brighton didn’t quite take hold of the game though despite having the best of the possession, and it was the Dons who came closest. Derek Duncan lined up a freekick right of centre, curled it round the wall only to see the Albion keeper scramble it wide low to his left with a little help from the upright.

Later in the half a Dons foray forward seemed to be about to come to an abrupt end as the ball ran away from Elliott Godfrey, but this wasn’t picked up by any of the Brighton players nearby, and Godfrey was able to catch up with the ball and smash it right footed just wide of the right post. Despite this Albion always seemed more likely to break the deadlock, and it finally came in frustrating style on 38 minutes as Wimbledon contrived to give the ball away in their own half, the ball was fed out to the left side of the field for Kevin McLeod to drive into the box and drill beyond Wilkinson and into the bottom right corner of the net.

The second half began with eight substitutions for the visitors, and perhaps they weren’t as switched on mentally as they could have been as Wimbledon took it to the visitor shortly after the break. An excellently timed challenge from Duncan saw him carry the ball at speed down the left flank, releasing Luke Moore. In fact the speed of the attack had left Wimbledon’s strikers flagging behind, so Moore cut inside, and seeing no-one had made it forward beat his man and sent a low strike bobbling across goal and wide of Brighton’s left post.

Derek Duncan was making the left back position his own. Strong in the challenge (although not always perfectly timed… he sent a couple of Albion players flying with desperate challenges), with the engine to get himself up and down the field with pace. I’ll talk about the differences between Hussey and Duncan a little later, but it may only be Duncan’s versatility that would allow Hussey game time at all next season.

Wimbledon turned the crew as time ticked away for the starting XI to make their mark. Hatton found space wide right, and teased a dangerous ball into the box, hacked clear by a Brighton man under great pressure from Kedwell just over his own crossbar. Kedwell didn’t make a huge impact on the game but worked hard all the same, his runs sometimes going unnoticed, sometimes creating space for colleagues behind him.

His strike partner tonight, the previously mentioned Moore, found the ball at his feet much more often and clearly knows what to do with it. Very offensively minded, Moore impressed in the hole against Wycombe and showed he is equally effective playing alongside a strike partner. Perhaps the most impressive of all is his willingness to defend high up the pitch a la Kedwell, despite his lack of inches compared to towering centre halves he never gives a ball up as lost, his ability to launch himself into the air and challenge the bigger men lead to a number of balls finding touch for a Wimbledon throw when perhaps a Jon Main challenge might have seen the ball flying back towards the Wimbledon half.

As the hour mark approached it was time for the aforementioned Main to make his mark on the game and show qualities of his own. It might sound stupid compared to his goalscoring exploits of last season, but a front three of Kedwell and Moore, with Godfrey just behind, will be enough to scare the life out of the best defences we come across next term. If we then bring on Jon Main with half an hour to go, against tiring defences, it could be enough to destroy the best of them. Injuries will play a part, as will the unknown fourth striker. Bossman didn’t appear last night but I’m sure I read somewhere that he was unavailable and was due to appear against FCUM on Saturday, however any thoughts that he might come good for us eventually have been slapped back into reality by recent news reports reminding us there are dozens of strikers out there who could do the business for us straight away. How long until we see random postings on Old Centrals asking ‘…ave we singed monagew yet…?’.

So Wimbledon’s mass cull of players certainly gave the linesman some counting practice, with only Duncan, Ricky Wellard (who was quiet last night) and Bret Johnson (who reminds me of Andy Thorn for some reason) surviving. A few minutes beforehand a much more significant substitution took place, with Mark Wright taking the field. I took a deep breath as a football mercenary with Them only last season was announced… to no audible reception whatsoever.

Once we ended up with a full complement of players back on the pitch, the game resumed. And miraculously it eventually regained the same flow it had in the first, making it hugely watchable for the last twenty-five minutes or so. In fact, on 68 minutes the Tempest End broke into its first prolonged chant of the season, which spurred the game back into action. Derek Duncan was first to try his luck, now playing further up the field, when he saw his long range effort handled in the box. Referee Jamail Singh, perhaps thinking back to a first half decision when he failed to give Brighton what would have been a soft penalty following a clumsy push in the box, waved play on.

But Wimbledon were just getting started. A few minutes later a strong Hussey run down the left touchline saw him flash a shot from a tight angle just over. I remember him doing this a few times when he could have pulled the ball back for a team mate, although in those cases he did enough to force a corner. If he concentrates on getting those on target he might score that way soon. Considering my previous opinion of Duncan, I have to say if there was only one place available I would give it to Duncan. However if possible, and when the circumstances call for it, we could do a lot worse than play both of them, as they seem to complement each other pretty well.

Another strong Hussey run saw him play a decent percentage ball low and curling back towards the onrushing forwards, missed by Main and Peter Rapson (who I will imagine will go on loan to a Ryman/CS side as soon as a fourth striker is brought in, but is an exciting forward in his own right and may deserve a chance himself in the first team before the season is out). Terry Brown then bawled out Lewis Taylor for not getting himself in the box, and this advice almost paid dividends minutes later.

Before that Taylor sent Main away down the right channel, but the striker hesitated momentarily, but for long enough to allow a Brighton man time to get back and block his effort. It wasn’t long before his pace took him free of the Brighton defence in the same position once more, this time sent away by a good ball from Wellard. This time he elected to drive the ball across goal, the ball again being deflected and dribbling wide of the far post. Taylor had taken his managers advice however and just failed to reach the ball in time, stabbing wide with the goal at his mercy.

Wimbledon fashioned an equally good chance moments later when Hussey again found room on the left. Spotting Duncan pointing for where he wanted the ball, he tried to sly it in only to see it half blocked and fall behind Duncan, sitting up beautifully for Jon Main to head home, and send the Tempest End into raptures. Unusual that, for a pre-season game, and entirely unnecessary as the dust settled and a second look revealed the ball wasn’t nestling in the corner,and had in fact flown wide.

While an equaliser now seemed a certainty, time had caught up with us, and a blocked Taylor effort moments later was the last Dons chance. Frustratingly Brighton took the ball down the other end, almost killing the game but for a brave save at feet by Sebb Brown. It was only a short respite or Wimbledon, a corner in injury time that seemed certain to be cleared was in fact chested across goal by a (fortunately for him) unidentified Don, Adam Virgo making no mistake and drilling under Brown to give Brighton the win.

Still, the majority of the 1167 crowd wenthome happy after seeing a very decent Wimbledon performance against a Brighton team who I’m sure will cause a lot of problems of most teams in League Two next year. The Dons need to get down to business and score a few goals, hold on to the ball in midfield but perhaps most importantly keep the tempo high in the remaining two games, against Fulham’s non-European squad XI, and first up FCUM or the SD Cup, appropriately sponsored by Co-Op this time around. If that game is even half as good as this one, we are in for a treat. And my dislike of pre-season friendlies has been cured.