Match report (Written by Milly Dore) AFC Wimbledon v Colchester United.

Before the game, I did a 12-6 shift in the pub. As the day went by, the amount of Wimbledon and Colchester fans gradually increased, to the point where every pint was served with a side of conversation about the upcoming game. The overall mood among Wimbledon fans was unanimous: what previously wasn’t a very high profile game on our radar, suddenly became a (completely self inflicted) rather big deal. After the dire, lacklustre, and last season esque performance on Boxing Day, JJ and his boys needed to put a statement out to the world that this was not going to be a regular occurrence, and that we still were raring to go and push for the play offs. And I must say that they bloody did. After my shift I strolled down to Plough Lane, got a sausage roll from MyPie, utterly delicious as per, and I thought if this was foreshadowing for the game ahead we should be okay. 

Then the football began and unlike us we began with a bit of gusto and came out all guns blazing. Josh scored a lovely goal in the fourth minute and everything seemed to be going swimmingly. That was until Colchester’s Joe Taylor found the back of the net. Joe Taylor was a classic example of a player you’d love if he played for you but hate if he plays against you. He is Colchester’s Harry Pell. He was cocky, horrible, and winding everyone up: I was very impressed by him. For the rest of the half we seemed to take our foot off the gas and let Colchester score again, only being saved by the heroic Joe Lewis who scored from a header in the dying moments before half time.

Whatever Johnnie said to the lads in the dressing room it worked, as in the second half we absolutely bossed everything and everyone. It was some lovely football. The result (minus their third goal) was very fair and reflective of the events that took place, it was exactly what we needed. For me the MOTM title is shared between Josh Davison and Joe Lewis. Josh had imo his best game in a Wimbledon shirt. The first touch for his second goal was textbook perfect, and to score from that tight angle well and truly sealed the deal that despite what some people may have to say, he is an important and valuable player within our squad. Joe Lewis was just consistently on his A game tonight, it was very comforting to see him back in the squad where he should be; long may that continue. 

We all know that despite peoples best efforts, the atmosphere at PL can be slightly lacklustre at times, however though on this cold Friday evening, where we were sitting it was actually quite good. Well done to those in the South Stand for getting everyone else involved; it worked! Despite the obvious dislike for their manager the Colchester fans were also on good form which only added to the excitement. Their man getting sent off was slightly unlucky, but that was the final confirmation that the Colchester boys would be returning home empty handed, while the three points were safely tucked away in Wimbledon. 

We are now approaching arguably the most stressful and unsettling period of the season for any football fan, but especially those of the lower leagues: the January transfer window (dun dun dun). For the likes of Colchester and Sutton, I am sure they are excited to rebuild and hopefully improve their squad. However though, when you have a successful squad that you love, as we do at Wimbledon, the window comes with lots of nervously checking your phone, and having your heart skip a beat every time you see AFC Wimbledon have posted on Twitter. Let us all pray that Stockport don’t come traipsing back to us to snatch back their players and that all of the clubs sniffing around our beloved Ali Al-Hamadi do in fact decide to wait until summer. 

Overall what a night under the lights, and what a way to finish off what has been an emotional rollercoaster of a calendar year for us AFC Wimbledon fans. COYD!