Match Report: AFC Wimbledon v Doncaster

20/20 maybe all the rage, but I'm more of a test cricket man myself. On a similar note, end of season 5-4 jolly-ups keep the young fans happy, but I much prefer these ugly, MMA one nils. This to my eye was an utterly brilliant game of football, and one in which we narrowly deserved the win against a very good team.

There were loads of talking points all over the pitch and in a switch from normal "match report mode" I want to touch on a couple.

Let's talk about Ryan Johnson. His continued inclusion over the last few weeks has sparked many a pub debate, I think that discussion is surely over after this. He was magnificent here from minute one (aside from one "a swing and a miss!" in the box which we've all done). Towards the end the "magnet mode" function on his forehead went into overdrive. At one point I counted four defensive headers inside a two minute period. Ryan is back, it's great to see and the manager has been vindicated for sticking with him.

Sam Hutchinson is a fine footballer isn't he? A couple of his through balls looked about as out of place in L2 as Del & Rodney did in fancy dress. My only regret while watching them was that he didn't play for us when we had Ali. Our revered front man could have gotten a hat trick every week with his pace and Sam's vision. One small word of caution. A fella bought me a Jaegerbomb in the pub last night and foolishly I drank it. Finally accepting that I'm not eighteen years of age anymore is a constant challenge for me. Sam probably doesn't do Jaegerbombs, but he DOES like an "all-in" tackle. He was booked for one when he got there a bit late, then was extremely lucky ten minutes later when the old legs didn't quite get him there in time to make any contact at all. If they had, he was gone and his reaction revealed that he knew it. That's the thing with 35 year old legs, they're a bit slower. Time to use his experience a bit and only go in when the time is right. And obviously don't do Jaegerbombs.

Omar Bugiel, our best player, is a giant when he's in this mood. He was absolutely magnificent and if we DID get promoted, would be in my opinion be easily able to make the step up. My one gripe with Omar is that the difference between when he's like he was yesterday and when he's not really at it is a bit too big. If he can add consistency to his brilliance, he might even go further than league one. He is a superb player.

Matty Stevens, I think this was his best goal of the season, an absolutely superb finish. The centre half thinks he's heading it out and six feet before the ball is due to hit his head, he is. Mattys little bit of movement in front does for him completely though. The poor lad is left heading thin air and our man gets another goal. This is a finish way above L2 level, if any scouts of bigger clubs were there we might be looking at offers for our man in January. Players who have that knack, that fox in the box instinct are very rare. If I was managing Charlton or a team at a similar level I'd be seriously asking myself if what we had is better than Matty Stevens. I have a feeling that is already happening. Matty is undoubtedly a better player now that he was earlier in the season, his rise and style reminds me a little of Alfie May.

We are a good team. We are in my opinion one of the best five teams in the league, and NONE of that five are outstanding. That is to say that I think we are as good as anyone else in the league. If we can continue to hang on in there despite our injuries, we could even win the thing never mind reach the playoffs.

COYD

Match report: Harrogate v AFC Wimbledon

In the swirling wind and freezing rain of North Yorkshire, AFC Wimbledon turned in surely as dominant an away display as you'll ever see. Such was our superiority that if come the end of the season we fail by goal difference, we'll look back and wonder how we didn't win this by six not three.

Football has always been a "funny old game", no more so than here. Harrogate decided to play hoofball in the desperate conditions, which I've got to say didn't look like the worst ploy to me on the face of it. We on the other hand decided to try and get it down and play through the thirds, much more so than we have in far more convivial conditions than these recently. In the early skirmishes there were moments where which approach would win out was in the balance, but not for long.

Fortunately for us in Ali Smith we had the one player on the pitch who was able to exert some control over things in midfield, and gradually we took over. The excellent Josh Kelly opened the scoring with a slightly deflected but nonetheless solid hit, Jonjo O Toole doubled it with a set piece header. The last one will no doubt please the coaching staff no end, we've needed more of those.

By now Harrogate had realised that their "launch & see" tactics were not going to trouble Ryan Johnson, Isaac Ogundere and Jonjo O Toole (who in particular was superb) at all, and in truth the game was done as a contest by half time.

In the second half with the wind howling at our tail, we kept our foot on their throat and in truth it could have been any score you like. Matty Stevens added a third with the cutest little dink finish after a beautiful little "knife through butter" pass from Josh Kelly. The latter is visibly growing before our eyes, he is a fine footballer who at last looks like he's about to realise his obvious potential.

Matty Stevens is starting to worry me a little. I didn't think I'd ever better my "I don't fancy the goalkeeper" comment after a 4-1 home defeat by Barnsley (it was Aaron Ramsdale), but I'm getting closer by the week with this lad. My "Copey has got this one wrong" comment when I heard we'd signed Matty is looking more and more ridiculous with every passing minute. He was fantastic here and turned in as good a centre forwards display as I've seen in our games all season.

There was still time for us to be denied a fourth goal when Matty (again) headed in from a corner. Whatever it was that the referee thought was wrong with it is an utter mystery to me. I was stood ten yards away and I couldn't see anything, but there you go. Similarly, Josh Kelly was bundled over in the box and our penalty shout which a billion per cent more credible than the one young Huss Biler was pinged for on Tuesday was waved away. We aren't getting the run from officials at the moment, hopefully soon it starts to even itself out.

It's not often a team beaten 3-0 is left feeling that they dodged a bullet, but those Harrogate players will surely have thought that at 5pm yesterday. This could literally have been seven or eight nil, we were absolutely magnificent to a man.

Any gripes? Just the one and it's an entirely predictable moan on my part. This game was done way before the end. Why we pulled young Morgan Williams out of playing 90 minutes for Dorking to sit on his arse here will forever remain a mystery to me. I'm as proud a Yorkshireman as they come and Harrogate is very beautiful, but I can't help thinking that the young midfielder could probably have survived without a weekend sight seeing tour around the place. Ten minutes at the end, a "run out" we used to call it, surely made sense. I get that he'll play Tuesday, but I think he should have played some minutes here too. Maybe he was carrying a slight knock or something, I honestly couldn't work that one out.

Anyway it's a minor gripe (to me anyway, no doubt the kid is a bit miffed himself) because we were SO good here. On this sort of form, we possess too much power and physicality for most of this division, superb stuff. COYD

Match Report: AFC Wimbledon v Newport County

A football match lasts for over an hour and a half. That doesn't stop us saying that a player "cost us the game" with an action that took a fraction of a second. Of course it's not actually possible to win the game or lose it in that finger snap of time, it just makes it easier to distill in our minds for when we talk about it a year or so later.

Take last night's last seconds of the game equaliser as a perfect example. Did young Huss Biler "cost us the game"? Was it perhaps Riley Harbottle with his "boot it back to them" clearance with 45 seconds to go? Or was it the referee? He who awarded what was to my mind a ridiculous penalty AND disallowed an Isaac Ogundere screamer?

My take? Huss made contact with the attacker, but it's pretty difficult not to when the bloke throws himself at your outstretched leg. Should the leg have been there? No, but this wasn't a tackle it was more of a collection of a falling body. Riley (who was excellent by the way) will no doubt reflect that he'd have been better off causing a throw-in rather than allowing Newport to instantly rebuild. The rest of the team might reflect on how against Dagenham with 90 seconds left a huge melee "broke out". By the time the pushing and shoving was sorted out, by the time referee had wagged his finger at everyone for the TV cameras, the game was done. There's a lot to be said for a melee, we could have done with one "breaking out" last night. And the referee? Sheesh don't get me started.

The penalty was the reverse of those ones in the penalty area that cause people to say "If that happens anywhere else on the pitch, it's a foul". If the bloke Fosbury flopping onto Huss had been in the centre circle would it have been a foul? Of course it wouldn't. And the disallowed goal? I've watched it back. Does Jonjo use his experience? Yes he does, should the goal have been disallowed because of it? No chance. So if we're looking for a scapegoat as to why we didn't win, yes it's the short fella. Not the one with the beard though, the one with the whistle.

And the fact we are even talking about the win is a tribute to the group. I've seen fans "disgusted" with our performance, I can't agree with that at all. We've reverted to a funky 5-2-3 formation because we've only got one fit midfielder. We've had to supplement HIM with a centre half running around and making it up as he goes along. We're down on confidence and yet we really should have beaten a half decent team with a couple of excellent players (the 8 & the 4 in particular).

Were we great? No, but we very nearly got the job done. In case folks haven't noticed, we aren't playing great at the moment, it happens. I've a strong hunch that when we go to Harrogate on Saturday, we won't be releasing a DVD to celebrate the "Total football" of the performance. We are at the moment just going to have to dig in during games and "dog it out". If we can come through this injury crisis and form slump still in and around the playoffs, then once we DO get going again we can push on.

Remember though, if someone gives a penalty away in the last game or in the playoffs and we DON'T go up, that player hasn't "cost us promotion". The season is long, complex and nuanced,  so is every GAME of football too. Let's not crucify one of our youngsters because the referee gave a ridiculous penalty decision against him. We are better than that.

Get behind the lads at Harrogate. Like a mate who has lost his job or whose Mrs has left him, this is when they most need us. COYD

We go again....

In most aspects of life, if you make a complete balls of something then there are longer term consequences. Mess up a job interview and there's no "Listen, I feel a bit better today. Can we try again?" facility. Similarly if on the first occasion you meet the Mother in Law you're half pissed and let out a rasper, you ain't coming back from that. 

Football resembles life in many ways, but fortunately for us in this aspect there is a clear distinction. Tomorrow night we DO get that second interview, we DO get the chance to meet the MIL after a mid afternoon trip to the gym rather than an afternoon session on the beer complete with early evening visit to the kebab shop.

I'm sure many of the players and the management staff have had that uneasy "We let ourselves down" feeling since Saturday night. The more conscientious of them might even think that they let the fans down a bit too, we were really looking forward to a massive awayday. Even the club who really could have with the big wedge might have figured in their thoughts a bit, but I'm here to tell them that it's done now. Move on.

Of course when you lose a second round FA Cup tie everyone says "We could have drawn Man U away!", the reality is more likely that it'd have been Middlesbrough at home and a 4-0 drubbing, we'll never know. Look I wanted the big match too, but there's no guarantee we'd have got one, so put it to bed and move on.

The best way of moving on of course is to get our home form back on track tomorrow night against Newport. Our home form isn't currently so bad that it's a crisis, but if we don't win tomorrow it will be very close to it. When we DO win though (because we will) we'll be fourth in the league which ain't too Shabby Alonso. We then go to Harrogate and we can win there too, so COME ON FFS!!!!

In order to get back on track however we simply MUST have more variety in our play when we have possession of the football. In that aspect, our play particularly at home has been bang average. If we play with three centre backs & we allow one centre forward to force us into launching it, then simple logic tells you that we will be outnumbered in other areas of the pitch. We have to be MUCH braver in posession, we must hold it longer & at the very least draw a presser before we release it. One of the middle three at the back MUST take the responsibility to carry the football and travel. We've got to play with a bunch more freedom, get ahead of the ball, get some bodies into the box, take more risks. 

In the last third there are many ways that you can score. It isn't JUST about getting it wide & putting crosses in, we have plenty enough ability in the team to open teams up with give and goes, second phase runners and the like. We are also EASILY athletic enough to commit more men into the box and be confident they can get back.

The players needn't worry as far as this fan is concerned. I don't feel let down at all, I know each and every one of them is doing their absolute best. I get most mad not by us getting beat, but when I see talented players unwilling to take a risk, not ready to express themselves for fear of making a mistake.

So let's do it tomorrow night. Yes sometimes we have to be direct, I 100% get that, but let's mix it up. If they form a "low block" (We used to call it defend deep) then keep the ball. Move it and them and work the opportunity for a shot. As it is, the opposition KNOW that they don't have to waste too much time pressing as we are likely just going to launch it anyway.

Mix it up lads, put Saturday behind us and let's beat Newport. COYD.

Match Report: AFC Wimbledon v Dagenham & Redbridge

So let's open up with a statement of fact here. We weren't great on the night (we were a long way off that to tell the truth) and the non leaguers deserved their win. In a close run game they were brighter, braver & more inventive, while crucially when THEIR opportunities came along they took them. We ain't the first team this season to be the victims of a cup shock, not even the first to be on the wrong end of one against this particular team, it happens & it'll happen again. No point in blubbing over spilt oatmilk, we've got to take it on the chin, in the bollocks or wherever is most appropriate, and put it right sharpish.

Anybody though who thinks that getting beat here won't have deeply hurt the players and staff is totally wrong in my opinion. Should Dagenham draw a big team away in the third round, I should think everyone at the club will be feeling lower than a dachshunds ballbag. That won't just be the players & staff either, the moneymen & women at Plough Lane will be going all Jim Bowen, "Let's look at what you could have won".

So where did it start to all go wrong? I should think about three weeks ago when the TV people told us we were playing at 7.15 on a Saturday night. Judging by the scores of Daggers fans in the pubs in Wimbledon all afternoon, they had a great day, got right behind their players and their whole squad seemed to feed off the energy.

By contrast we (the players AND fans) were sluggish & never really got going. The referee going off injured (seriously you couldn't make this shite up) seemed to lull us even further into a slumber, it was no surprise when they took the lead.

Now I know lots of fans are on the case of the goalkeeper for both goals. I'm sure the young fella will feel he might have done better for both, but my disappointment in him is probably different to most peoples. I'm mostly disappointed that after BOTH goals he's not going absolutely mental with the defence. Yes he might have got the first, but Sheesh we let the lad carry it 20 yards unchallenged then have a free shot from 25 yards. It hits the inside of the post so it's no howler, but OG not going berserk with those in front of him afterwards? THAT'S a howler. And the second, a crowd scene on the edge of the six yard box. I think a centre half has to attack it & head it clear. I'm sorry, that's what I'd be looking for if I'm the goalie or the manager. Then once OG pats it down, we MUST win that & clear it. Yes the goalie should do better, but no way is it a one man horror show. And the young fella is doing nobody any favours being on his haunches feeling like he's let us down when it gets bundled in, he should be all over his defenders.

Aside from that, we had (in my eyes) a slightly "overcoached" look about us. Our play was a bit joyless, football by numbers stuff. Side to side to side (in the case of young Isaac Ogundere side to side to backwards). We looked as though we were always more fearful of making a mistake than we were excited about making a positive impact on the football match. 

A little bugbear of mine at the moment is the rigidity & predictability of our play. I think our centre halves are ALL good enough players to be much braver on the football. When teams drop off and only half press, they should travel in posession. It doesn't HAVE to be hit on the diagonal every time, carry the ball then when you are eventually closed down, release it and open the game up. Our midfielders are ALL good enough to play one touch, one-twos, little ones around the corner and the like to open teams up. They are ALL athletic enough to get ahead of the play but still get back. I know we aren't telling the players NOT to do this stuff, but they (to me) have the look of lads who are overly concerned with technicalities, video analysis, whiteboards and the like. Football is a GAME, sometimes in order to flourish you have to have the "What was HE doing in THERE?" questions while you're celebrating a goal.

Dagenham played the match like it WAS a GAME of football. They committed men forward when they had the chance, they took risks in posession, they "went for it". In short, they were the braver team and by quite a distance. Fortunately for them & painfully for us, the gap between their bravery & ours was big enough to wipe out our obvious superiority in ability. That's the cup upset recipe right there.

Passion too. They had that. If we'd have matched in our game what Skivvers showed after the final whistle in the face of the departed Paul Kalambayi (Who in fairness was excellent) it might have been a different story.

We didn't though, it was the Daggers who progress. Fair play, their fans were brilliant all day, they deserved to win and I wish them well.

When the going gets tough....

I didn't get to watch Tuesdays game live, but even before I'd seen the extended highlights I didn't think the players & manager got quite enough credit for such a huge win. Yes we are a better team than Tranmere, but to go up there and win on a wet and windy night with them desperate for a result as well was a magnificent performance. When you add in the fact that while we certainly weren't in crisis we had been stuttering a bit, it makes it even better.

I'd like to talk about the goals. Both were as a result of some excellent play with the ball being worked into really dangerous areas by good passing, not by being launched. The first goal was as a result of a really good run from Callum Maycock who was found with a fine pass from Ryan Johnson. 

Now I've made no secret of the fact that Ryan Johnson is a player I like a lot. His honesty shines through in everything that he does, so much so that I should think he'd be the first to accept that he hasn't been at his impeccable best since he came back from injury. Neither mind you has he been as bad as some fans have made out, and some of them would do well to remember my "Man at the bar" theory*.

*Said theory is this: If you wouldn't say to his face when he was stood at the bar, something you'd either write about or shout at a player, then don't type it, don't shout it. My guess is big Ryan would flatten some of those who have been hurling abuse at him, we'd do well as fans to remember that our job is to SUPPORT the players. If we can't think of anything constructive to type/write, then saying eff all is always a viable option.

Anyway I know a couple of lads who went to Tranmere. They said that although Ryan wasn't back to his absolute "Magnet head" best, he was somewhere pretty near it. At his best, (remember Sutton away) you could have filled a football with lead & chucked it in a canal. To retrieve it, you'd have just needed to lob Ryan Johnson in head first. The magnetic force of his nut would have meant that once he came out, it'd have been stuck on his forehead like a black & white tumour.

The second goal was a great low cross & header too. Yes I know they had a couple of chances, but here's a newsflash, that happens in football. The main thing is, we won. Now with the greatest respect to Tranmere, it firmly fits into the "get off the bus, grab the points, get back on the bus, fuck off home" type of away day. It isn't the sort of place you go for a cultural experience, you go there for the points. We got em, great win.

Now on Saturday Dagenham won't be a gimme, but neither is it a nine footer downhill with a funky double break. It's a four footer on a slight uphill green. If we approach it properly and do the right things, we'll win. Hopefully from there we get another famous cup day out of it.

Newport & Harrogate the following week I'm going to both and I can't wait. It's another two games that I think we ought to be winning, but we'd do well to remember what we did at Tranmere. Bravery on the ball, not taking the easy option every time, playing a bit of football etc.

Do those things and by next Saturday night, we'll be celebrating four wins on the bounce. Let's get it done, COYD.

AFC Wimbledon-Better Form Needed. Sharpish.

Sometimes form tables don't tell the whole story, sometimes they do. Most often though, there is nuance to the numbers and hand on heart, that's where I see us at the moment.

Sure on the face of it being the 16th best team in the last 10 games is pretty ordinary, nobody can deny that. Similarly, over that period to be level with the likes of Colchester & Morecambe & comfortably behind Harrogate isn't in any way shape or form a reflection of our raw squad ability. That said, although we can dig into them, the numbers and the league table rarely need a polygraph.

So if there ARE mitigating factors, what are they? Well Johnnie used to regularly say "Ten minutes cost us" when we were beaten, it was usually the ten minutes during which we conceded two goals so it was hard to argue with him really. This seasons "Ten minutes cost us" is "There was nothing IN that game", and once again he is 100% telling the truth. Even more so when after the 1-0 defeat on Saturday, he expended the "There was nothing in it" to also include "Except for the goal". I appreciate it must be difficult to be interviewed straight after games so I take it all with a bit of a pinch of salt, but his basic point holds good. We REALLY HAVE been narrowly beaten in quite a few matches recently. "Fine margins" is the current buzz phrase for it, look in the football dictionary and under that entry the definition is a picture of our squad.

For sure we've had a bit of bad luck too during that period (not forgetting of course that it could have been worse without two injury time goals at home to Accrington), but I've watched football long enough to know "We just keep being unlucky" only cuts it as an excuse for so long. Similarly, while it's 100% true in my opinion that we are just as good as the top teams, it therefore surely follows that 16th best in the last 10 games isn't good enough. To be level over that period with Morecambe in particular is a staggering statistic.

So to quote the dodgy 80's beat combo Haircut 100, where do we go from here? Well step one I feel is that we have to work on attacking in a more varied way. Our somewhat direct approach is OK up to a point, but particularly when we are chasing a game it CAN often descend into desperation. It gets the crowd up when you continually launch it into the box from barely inside the oppositions half, but in truth it isn't really that difficult to defend against. Allowing the opposion defence to camp out on the edge of their own box and win headers takes a lot of the jeopardy out of protecting a lead, and in truth unless James Tilley smashes in a 30 yarder our scoring options are limited. Not only that, but by its very nature such an approach leads to lots of time with the ball not being in play. Be it as a result of goal kicks, free kicks, throw ins, fouls or whatever, the defence is handed crack cocaine on a plate when you're seeing a lead out, namely stoppages & opportunities to waste time.

So we MUST in my opinion develop a more balanced approach with the ball sometimes at least going through the thirds. I'd personally like to see young Josh Kelly given the opportunity to drop into the 10, but I obviously appreciate that I haven't seen that much of him. It is merely my impression that he could be a good focal point in there, but if it isn't him it has to be someone at least. Equally, our players have to be much braver on the football, particularly our centre backs in the three. They MUST step in with the ball more, cross the half way line & ask the opposition to come & defend. Too often we take the easy option (the launch) rather than building pressure by keeping possession.

Funnily enough, after Saturday we were talking about "switching off" when we conceded once to the league leaders. We actually defend very well, it's WITH the ball that I'd be concerned, not without it.

Broadly though there isn't much wrong, we are still a good team. A little bit less excuses though and a little bit more "get it done" would be good. Johnnie himself can start here, for blips not to turn into bliiiiiiiiiips there needs to be a feel good about the place. Good looking lad that he is, he needs to lose his bitch resting face a little bit and get the lads bouncing. Often it's THAT rather than tactics that makes the difference, Tranmere would be a great place to start with a smiley 4-0 win. COYD

My Match Report. AFC Wimbledon v Grimsby.

Look, it's league two. That means that players who were world beaters last week can drop below that level seven days later. If that WASN'T the case, Josh Neaufville would be playing for AFC Bournemouth not AFC Wimbledon and Joe Lewis would have Virgil Van Dyke as his centre back partner, not Ryan Johnson.

And in league two, everyone beats everyone. That's the way it was, the way it is and the way it will always be. There's no point in crying in the cornflakes, when you get punched on the nose in League Two you've gotta get up off the canvas & get ready for next week.

The thing is here that we weren't bad at all. Yes we lacked the blinding sparkle that we showed against MK, but we definitely did enough not to lose this game & Grimsby could hardly have moaned if we'd won it. That Grimsby got the win was as result of some shoddy defending by us for the goal, some excellent "bodies on the line" stuff from them to keep us out, but most of all because they had Keiran Green man mark Ali Smith out of the game. 

The fact we were unable to deal with that as a team was the most disappointing aspect of the performance for me. Our management team will no doubt be working on coming up with a solution sharpish. So successful was the ploy and so profound the influence it had on our ability to progress the football effectively, that I should think from here on in everyone will do it.

From my perspective I'd like to have seen us be aware of it very early on and get some rotation going in there. Either one of the other midfielders slotting into the space which Smith was vacating, one of the fullbacks inverting or one of our ball carrying centre halves being brave enough to stroll in there (my preferred option). That we allowed a solitary Danny Rose to ensure that none of our back three were able to step into midfield to free Smith up was disappointing in my eyes. Bravery isn't just about flying into tackles, it's being brave in thought & deed with the football too.

All that said, we are a good team & we could still easily have gotten something. The Grimsby goalkeeper saved a shot from Tilley at the end of the first half that was the best save I've seen at the new Plough Lane. I was right behind it and it was hitting the inside of the post and going in all day long until his finger-tipped left handed deflection. The disallowed goal might have been given on another day, but generally if you breathe on keepers they are protected so it was no surprise to see it chalked off.

At the end of the day though Grimsby defended brilliantly. Green ran himself into the ground marking Ali then provided a worldie pass for the goal. Just when his legs were going & our man's influence growing, they withdrew him & put Evan Khouri in there. Our man had no chance without help from his teammates. They had in my view the games outstanding player in left back Denver Hume, and they got (we gave them) the goal. Had we gotten it, I think WE would have won 1-0.

We didn't, thems the breaks. Grimsby will be in the playoffs, so will we.

MK v AFC Wimbledon, match report.

MK can count themselves very unlucky for what happened on this beautiful, early Autumn Sunday. Not unlucky in the game itself (Shit No, they got absolutely battered), but they were very unfortunate that our two previous "daylight robbery" away defeats had us in "Super tuned up & bristling to kill" mode for this FA Cup tie.

I mean it when I say MK got battered too, even their most one eyed fan would accept that 2-0 flattered them massively here. On another day this could have been a defeat which made their "play-off semi final horror show" defeat by Crawley look about as "horrific" as a Scooby Doo villain (The one who always says when unmasked "And I would have got away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids"). It could have made THAT defeat look about as embarrassing as not answering an email within one day of recieving it. No, MK could have had no complaints here if they'd have tanked by five or six, we were absolutely toying with them by the end.

Of course it didn't start like that, it rarely does.The first half hour was fairly even. We shaded it, but it still took a magnificent tackle after a lung bursting sprint by Joe Lewis to deny Alex Gilbey. We still needed a desperate far-post block from James Tilley to avoid a goal. At the other end though, Omar Bugiel & Matty Stevens were scaling enemy walls with daggers clamped between their teeth, cutting telephone wires, taping explosives under bridges and readying themselves for the big push. In midfield, Callum Maycock, Miles Hippolite & Ally Smith were gradually getting the MK three in a series of headlocks & strangleholds. The home three struggled for a bit, but they were banging the grass in submission long before Matty Stevens sliced them open for the first goal.

Omar went in for the killer second just after half time, and by now the fight had completely gone from the men in white. As they scurried to tether their shirts to sticks in an act of surrender, the Exocet that is Josh Neaufville swooped in from the left and mowed them down in droves. Despite their desperate pleas for it all to end we weren't on this occasion up for taking prisoners, cruelly exposing their lack of heart and togetherness as a deafening chorus of "Ole!" rang out from the away support. It would have been horrible for everyone associated with MK to see how meekly they gave up long before the end of the game, but that's for them to concern themselves with not us.

By the final whistle, the home support, (aside from those that wanted to hurl abuse at their embarrassed players) had long since melted back into the Newtown greyness. The away end merrily laughed and chided them for their misery. Our players and management team celebrated in front of us, they know what the victory means and they 100% deserve the plaudits for a truly magnificent performance.

This is a team that is going places, the momentum has a Steven King novel "runaway juggernaut" feel about it now. We literally look too good for our opponents in every game, too hard, too physical, too strong. We should make hay while our sun in shining so brightly, smash everyone we play. Tell your friends, advertise it in the back windows of your cars, get the loud hailer out. AFC Wimbledon are a proper football team.

My match report: AFC Wimbledon v Morecambe.

Sometimes I get accused of being too positive as far as AFC Wimbledon games are concerned, but on a mild Autumnal night I'd defy anyone not to have been impressed by the Home team yesterday. In a performance riddled with power, strength and precision they completely dismantled Derek Adams' Morecambe brick by brick. It's a rare thing in football when a team just beaten 3-0 thinks they've dodged a bullet, but for the men in red they'll have gotten on the bus home knowing it could have been a whole lot worse. Aside from a fifteen minute spell at the end of the first half when we allowed the tempo to drop and Morecambe to get over the half way line, we were utterly dominant.

All that said, it took surely the best goal scored at the new Plough Lane to break the deadlock. James Tilley has been threatening a breakout moment for a few weeks now (I gave him MOM on Saturday when he was superb), but even his admirably loyal Mrs surely couldn't have forseen this. Picking the ball up wide left he sluiced inside & hit it off his "weaker" right side from fully thirty yards out. It wasn't funnily enough the fact the ball arrowed into the top corner of the net which will stick in my memory forever, it's the actual flight of the football. It just kept going, and going, and going. Like a ski jumper who seems to defy gravity in the last ten metres of his jump, it just seemed to not want to stop. Good thing the net is there & the stand behind, it would probably have hit somebody on the back of the head hanging their washing out, in Kingston. It was a stunning goal from a player who is right back to his very best, it's great to see.

Just when you thought that you wouldn't see anything of that quality for the rest of the season, Ali Smith produced a pass which Kevin De Bruyne would have included on his "My greatest moments" CD for the second. It was a caressed and side footed fizzer which hugged the turf, ripped between two defenders and then once the backspin turned into sidespin, came to an abrupt halt right on the line for Josh Neaufville to put Omar Bugiel in for the finish. It was a beautiful moment from a player who turned in an imperious performance on the night. I know he's on loan and in his last year, but our only chance of keeping this lad is to go all in first, before the other clubs have realised how big the pot ACTUALLY is. We should offer Lincoln 50K (Which surely they couldn't refuse) and make this lad an offer he can't refuse. We should do it January, he is too good for League Two so let's do a Joe Lewis and kidknap him before everyone realises.

There was magnificence everywhere. The tenacious Matty Stevens added a third, James Ball looks like he's always been a centre half, Joe Lewis got a deserved standing ovation, the midfield three were all brilliant and even Owen Goodman, not wanting to get left out, made an astounding save at the end.

This is a PROPER good team, I think we'll go to Port Vale on Saturday and win.

Fine margins, all that jazz.

As I've gotten older, I've learned to still enjoy a game of football, even when we lose. That was the case as we went down 1-0 to Notts County today, and I enjoyed it despite learning next to nothing I didn't already know.

I knew for instance that Alex Bass was a good goalkeeper. He demonstrated the fact often enough to win the man of the match here, but I already knew it anyway. Equally, anybody who knows anything about football knew already that if you miss a hatful of chances, the football Gods have a habit of making you pay. Not only do you pay, but the Gods rub your nose in it by having you concede a goal of truly comedic quality. I knew all of that already, but anybody who didn't before this game does now.

Let's be clear though, missed chances aside we were absolutely excellent here. The first half in particular was a magnificent performance against an excellent team, the best I've seen from us this season by quite a way. We utterly bossed the first 45 minutes and had we gone in two or three up, Notts County could have had no complaints.

Inevitably being one of the best teams in the league and given the fact they were playing at Home, County improved a lot in the second half. Even then though, despite them coming right back into it we still had our moments. At the back, we continued to look as solid as a bank vault (thanks to some brilliant interventions from James Ball, Riley Harbottle & Ryan Johnson). This was bodies on the line defending of the highest order, then just as I was patting myself on the back for my after ten minutes "0-0 bet", a calamity occured.

I've played in and watched enough football matches to know that things aren't as easy as they look, obvious mistakes not so obvious in the heat of battle. Owen Goodman though looked to me like he got kind of wrongfooted by a header bouncing towards him. Whether it was the striker directly in front of him swinging and missing which deceived him or whether it bounced like a Shane Warne ripper I'm not sure, but something confused him and the defenders and it trickled in. In fairness to our young goalie he redeemed himself with a brilliant save down on his left side moments later, but the goal knocked the stuffing out of us for a good ten minutes or so.

There was still time for us miss the most golden of chances when Josh Kelly got his legs platted and couldn't quite capitalize on his anticipation to intercept a back pass. Again, no blame being dished out here, stuff like that happens. He made the chance himself by getting there in the first place, sometimes they just don't go in. You could though sense the collective groan as it felt that it just wasn't going to be our day, and so it proved.

There is NOTHING though to be gained from belly button rummaging after this game. I don't care how big the bit of fluff you pull out is or what you tell me about our away record, we were excellent here and deserved at least a point.

Notts County were good too, that's because they ARE good. They are certs to be in the top seven, on this evidence so are we. And that's what you get when two excellent teams play each other and there's nothing between them, fine margins decide it. We came out on the wrong side of it today, but if we play like THIS away from home every time, we'll win LOADS of football matches. 

COYD

So. Where are we at?

After a bit of an enforced layoff (I'm talking me not any of the players) I'm back at it again, ready to do the home games and only a few weeks from going on the road again. Fortunately due to the wonders of technology I've seen all the games, but obviously you can't beat being there.

So anyways it won't surprise anyone to hear that I think this is by a distance the best team I've seen during my brief time as a Womble. Right now we look incredibly solid and well drilled, we're probably only a "find a bit of fluency away from home" pill away from launching a top three challenge. 

It equally goes without saying that I haven't agreed with every selection and tactical nuance. I'd love to see young Morgan Williams being given more minutes, I prefer Furlong at left back to Tilley, and I'd love to see us commit more men forward away from home. That said, the midfield is working perfectly well without young Morgan and James Tilly has been a revelation at left back, so what do I know?

The goals and threat thing away from home is probably just about the only aspect of our play which has been slightly lacking. Even then, for the most part we've managed to cobble together a chance or two, and in both of the games we've lost we could conceivably have won them. Fortunately our defence is so good that if we score we normally win, so it's only the slightest of adjustments that is needed.

Quick note on the defence. Riley Harbottle has been magnificent since he came in, Joe Lewis a colossus. Joe in paricular must surely be attracting interest from clubs with money, but it wouldn't surprise me if Harbottle is too. And it says it all about young Isaac Ogundere that he every inch looks like he belongs alongside them. What a cracking footballer he is turning out to be. Down the sides Tills or Furlong are doing great, and at right back Josh and Huss have definitely "got this".

Quick mention for the goalie too. I'll confess to having had doubts at first, but he is the latest in a long line of stoppers that Bayzo seems to have improved out of all recognition.

In midfield young Maycock looks to me like he's got it, I'm over the moon that James Ball is finally getting the opportunity to show what a good player he is. Jake Reeves continues to be the Gary Kasparov of league two, while Myles Hippolite has confirmed with bells on the early suspicion that he's a central midfielder these days. The most exciting of all though could be Ali Smith. I'd bemoaned the fact that he was "just" playing decent as he looks like a lad who is too good for the level to me. Well apparently he rammed it down my throat on Saturday where everyone who went said he was magnificent. He had a tough afternoon against Danny Meyer (who must be close to being the best midfielder in the league) but by the next time he runs into the Fleetwood schemer, our man has it in him to have improved beyond the ex Plymouth man.

Up top Omar continues to shine (and Jeez how good was he at Newcastle?). So does everyone else though, Matty Stevens cementing his spot as first choicer with a hat trick on Saturday. Pigs continues to have that poachers instinct, and while Josh Kelly has arguably found it a frustrating start, his movement is too good and too clever to fail if we start to play slightly more progressive football.

And Johnnie Jackson? Well he and his coaches will be well and truly coming up on the radar of bigger clubs. Our man has improved vastly from when he first started and is now in my view ready to go up the ladder. Hopefully before that, he goes he gets promotion with Wimbledon.

COYD

They should pay me not to come....

For the second time this season I missed a home game & in my absence the team put in a scintillating display. After missing out on the comeback of comebacks against Colchester, a wedding in Scotland meant that it was my son sitting in my West Stand seat who got to see us smash MK three zip. I've only seen the goals, but everyone I know who went said we were brilliant. So some thoughts in the aftermath.

1. I was totally WRONG in wondering if us having a week off while MK were winning 1-0 at home would end up being a bad idea. I still think there shouldn't be International breaks in League Two, but having one obviously didn't do us any harm. Note to self, stop talking bollocks.

2. This win is VERY significant and not just because it's "them". Leaving emotion out of it, they have an excellent squad for the level and to smash them so convincingly really says something about our team. I think it is now official, we are a very good league two outfit. Aside from one dodgy performance at Bromley, we have been good in every game we've played. From here we really ought to be thinking about a potential automatic promotion slot. I'm not by any means saying we are certainties, but we have a proper chance of getting there. We really ought to be certs for the playoffs.

3. I had a bit of a pop a few weeks back about us not being an easy watch. We were a very good watch against Fleetwood, I thought that was a cracking game of football, and everyone says we were brilliant yesterday. Note to self, REALLY stop talking bollocks.

4. The final part of becoming a really good team is to actually realise then properly believe that you are one. That comes from the management team and the way we approach games. We are a good enough outfit now to go to any ground in League two and properly try and win. Sure games like Bradford away on Saturday aren't easy, obviously a point there wouldn't be the worst result in the world, neither should we scoff at a clean sheet, but we are plenty good enough to go there and win. That should be our primary objective from the moment we start working towards the game this week.

5. Johnny Jackson. It hasn't been a road without bumps, but here we are three seasons in and there appears little doubt that this is the best squad he has had at his disposal. So far he's doing a bloody good job of getting the best out of them, and he deserves lots of credit. Yes I'd like to get a few more academy grads into the squad, yes I'd like us to go through the thirds a bit more, but it's a results business at the end of the day. He's getting results, well done to him & Skivvers, long may it continue. COYD

International breaks, MOM awards, DTB stuff & some football thoughts...

First things first, we shouldn't be on an International break. We shouldn't even have the OPTION of being on a break, but even though we do have it we ought to have passed it up in my opinion. As an opener, to see League Two games postponed & giving up the opportunity of gaining new fans during international breaks makes me need a lie down. In cities like London where literally thousands of fans of "big" clubs might be encouraged to bring their kids to see REAL football, it is utterly nuts to call games off. Not only that, but while MK were getting their faltering season up and running yesterday, we were playing head tennis & having the afternoon off. Who got the best end of that deal? You decide.

The MOM awards. I've long held the view that a certain Ivor Hellor should never have been taken off the job in the first place. I was told a while back by a certain high up person at the club that they had sympathy for my view and to "Watch this space". Well I've watched the space for over a year now & bugger all has happened. Either they were lying to me back then or they've changed their minds. Whichever is the case isn't massively important, but I STILL think Ivor should be doing it. If the club ever gets someone else who is better at it I'll be the first to change their minds. I'm less inclined so to do though when the stand-ins aren't even half as good. Please get Ivor back, it was part of the matchday experience. I once took my kids to Kingsmeadow along with a bunch of their pals, Ivors MOM presentation performance made almost as much of an impact on them as the football did. Bring him back.

The DTB? There's an extra special (even specialler than normal) general meeting coming up next week. It's been petitioned for by the fans (I signed the petition myself, people seemed to feel pretty strongly about the stuff they wanted discussing). There's been arguments/debates about how many signatures are needed to get the meeting up & running, whether or not you'll be able to vote on stuff in advance if you aren't there, how big the room it's going to be held in and goodness knows what else. That's before the meeting itself takes place and folks get involved in the "50 + 1" stuff & all the old wounds that seems to open up. My own view on the "50 + 1" argument is that I don't really understand the ins and outs of it. My suspicion is that I'm in the vast majority of AFC Wimbledon fans in that respect, although not many are prepared to confess their utter cluelessness. 

My thoughts on the meeting before it happens are FWIW that both sides have it totally wrong. The DTB have to my mind not really engaged effectively with the fan base over the brief time I've supported Wimbledon. There is a deep suspicion amongst many fans that there is a "jobs for the boys" culture & that much of the decision making is made by the same old faces in the same old way. Many folks who support the club feel neither listened to nor respected and represented, and that's before you even get into the "PLC" board (don't ask me because I don't know) & whatever they're involved in. Because of this sense of bemusement amongst many supporters, such things as petitions for EXTRA, REALLY REALLY special General Meetings crop up. Because of the mistrust, the moment someone mentions that the meeting room might be too small it feels to many like some sort of Machiavellian ruse rather than the totally innocent logistical problem it no doubt is. The people that run the club need to engage better, and it's not enough to say that they stand in a tent at home games.

Where the more antagonistic fans in my view have it wrong, is that I think their general mistrust is misplaced. I know a lot of the folks who run the club on a personal level, they are thoroughly decent people who in my judgement just want to do the best for AFC Wimbledon. They give up their time (which would in many cases be prohibitively expensive to buy) for free. To this outsider/bandwagon jumper they look to be doing a bloody good job by and large and in nearly all cases, don't deserve nor bleed the villification.

In amongst the angst, it's worth reminding ourselves from time to time that we ARE all actually on the same side or supposed to be. I hope that whatever is thrashed out at the meeting, the main protagonists get together afterwards for a couple of beers. Perhaps that's what's missing, something to break down the perception of barriers.

On the football (remember THAT?) we are continuing to absolutely thrive. Despite being knocked to the canvas a couple of times against Ipswich & chasing shadows for much of the game, we clung on like a bulldog with lockjaw and got a famous win. I think we deserved it for pure endeavour. Then, in one of my favourite performances during the Johnny Jackson era we got over the line 1-0 against Fleetwood. Unlike the other teams we've played in the league, Charlie Adams men will be top ten in the league, and despite being brilliantly orchestrated by Danny Meyer we deserved the narrow win. It was a superb game of football between two good teams, I loved it.

Now, the MK game will tell us much. Given the strength of their squad I cannot even envisage them finishing outside the top three, if we beat them next Saturday then we are REALLY starting to look like a team that's going places. It won't be easy, they are a good side and as I've said already, will be helped in my opinion by playing yesterday.

As it is though, my "12th in the league" prediction continues to look way off. Fantastic stuff, and my "we are ugly to watch" observation is now under threat too after the last two performances. Long may it continue, here's hoping for a great week for the club both on and off the pitch. 👊

Reasons to be cheerful? The season so far.....

Drawing too many conclusions about a season only five matches old is a total mugs game, we all know that. As I've been called far worse than a total mug many times in my life though, I'm happy to do the "school report" before I even know all the kids names.

So let's start with a bit of "state the obvious", hopefully that might con the odd reader into thinking that occasionally I talk some sense. Johnnie Jackson, Craig Cope and Andy Thorne have put together a strong squad of players for the level. I don't obviously know how much say each of them has in the signing of the individual players, but I think we can safely guess that on the "Do we/Don't we" final flowchart, a "No" to the "Are they massive?" question meant we didn't sign them. We are giant, a huge football team. If one of the more innovative owners in League two has employed an ex basketball coach as manager, I suppose we might get "outsized". If not, I'd be amazed if we aren't the biggest team in the division. Size (as we all know/hope lads) isn't everything, but in the hurly burley of league Two it's certainly something.

Now if any fans of opposing teams in L2 are foolish enough to read this blog, let me tell you you ain't gonna enjoy playing against Wimbledon this season. As an aside I can tell you with some certainty that you ain't gonna enjoy WATCHING your team play against Wimbledon either. If ever a game was ripe for you to prove the Mrs wrong when she says "You NEVER miss a football match to take me to lunch on a Saturday", it's when you play us at your ground. Believe me. You're welcome.

So here we arrive at another state the obvious moment. We ain't gonna win the Johann Cruyff total football award for L2 this season. Don't Google it I made it up, but you get my drift. That's not to say that we don't have good footballers because we do, but we are totally route 0.5 (route one is for pussies seemingly). I looked at the possession stats for our convincing arm wrestle win at Cheltenham on Saturday. They were miles out. It had us down as being 60:40 in the ascendancy or something. Total nonsense. The possession stats for the game WERE in our favour, but it was more like 40:25:35. The 35% of the time in all of our games is when the ball is either up in the stratosphere or has bounced and people are chasing it. There are significant periods of our games where NOBODY is in possession of the football. To be in possession of it you have to be in control of it surely? So no, I stand by MY stats, 40:25:35 it is.

And where will it all take us? Well I predicted 12th before a ball was kicked, and I'd be erring towards us doing slightly better than that at the moment. That's not because we've won two out of three league games, (we've played some poor teams so far), but because the likes of Myles Hippolite, Ali Smith, James Ball and Josh Kelly are capable of being a lot better than we're currently seeing in my opinion. If we can get those guys firing, then we have a chance in my view of getting into the playoffs. We are good in defence (Ryley Harbottle is a fine acquisition), but we are going to need the aforementioned players to get our goals and chance creation stats going. Despite it being just about as dominant a 1-0 as you'll ever see against Cheltenham, we didn't in all honesty rack up chance after chance. We are going to need to do that against poor teams. 

Negatives? Well we are at times a brutal watch. No I'm sorry, we are. Even when there are acres of space in which to carry the ball, players completely ignore the opportunity. Even when there is a simple pass on, we still launch it. Catching us in possession is practically impossible because if an opposition player is anywhere near us, we smash it into the clouds. I totally get that this is the risk free approach, but I can't lie and tell you that I enjoy watching it massively. I'd love to see us go through the thirds and express ourselves but it's a long way off.  Jake Reeves sometimes gets it going for a moment or two,  but it soon fizzles out and we smash it again. I actually think that if we did play a bit more we'd be a better team, but it doesn't look likely at the moment.

That though wouldn't be my biggest gripe. No, that would be that we seem to have just about given up on playing our own youngsters. I get that Josh Neufville is learning the "wing-back" role as he goes, but we have two excellent young right backs sitting on their arse watching him do it. I get that out central midfielders are getting to know each other and standing back to back to see who is tallest, but what of young Morgan Williams, seemingly so bored with his lot these days that he's taken to cutting his own Barnet? There are others, young Ethan Sutcliffe looks to me like a lad who might just have it, Paris Locke, Kai Jennings too. All these kids could be the next on the Jack Rudoni/Jack Currie gravy train the club needs to pull into the station ever year or so. I said last season that if we pissed the league I'd have taken the "We couldn't have done THAT with kids" hook line & sinker. We didn't piss the league though, we were 10th. To this observer, being 12th instead but giving Williams a dozen starts, Sutcliffe a few, Ogundere/Biler a load in front of the long throw bloke etc would have been a price worth paying. Similarly, playing slightly more progressive football but not getting as many 0-0's at "tough places to come" would be a price that this watcher would happily stump up for.

As it is, it looks to me like we're kind of "all-in" this season. We've binned off a lad who successfully coached at all levels of the club for many years, we're in the process of binning off any claims that we prioritise our own youngsters, and we're binning off any pretensions that we are looking to play progressive, possession football. If it all works and we get promoted then I guess the school report would be an A*. If on the other hand we don't succeed, we might find that we've given up a fair amount of our DNA for little or no return.

That's the "all-in" move though I guess. Those of us who know poker know that by it's very nature it's a "shit or bust" move. Time will tell which.

AFC Wimbledon, What can we expect and hope for in the new season.

I'll tell you one thing, being a football manager can't be easy. There can't be many jobs where even if you do a much better job than last year you risk getting the sack, but that's exactly the game for Johnnie Jackson, Skivvers and the new coach fella this season.

Why? Well in my opinion the team we go into the new season with is by quite a margin weaker than the one that started last season. That's not anyone's fault particularly, but you can't expect to lose Alex Bass, Jack Currie and Ali Al-Hamadi while retaining the same strength. Those three (particularly Al-Hamadi who was the best player in the league by some distance) are practically irreplaceable at the level, I think time will brutally demonstrate that as we go along.

We have at least arguably improved the squad as a whole. The front four represent the most potent bunch of options there's been since I had a season ticket, we've also picked up an option or two in midfield. That said, one or two things concern me.

Jake Reeves was brilliant until Christmas last season, then fell away a bit towards the end. I think that is partially explainable by the fact that he isn't 17 feet tall (I've calculated that as being the optimum height for an AFC Wimbledon central midfielder given our tactics in the last dozen games). Like Josh Kelly, you'd expect him to improve if he hasn't got to jump nine feet into the air in order to receive the passes aimed at him, but like the striker he ALSO has a bit to prove this time around. Jake has to re find the incisiveness of pass that he had, to resist the temptation to go safe, pass it backwards, shirk responsibility as he began to do. Josh Kelly arrived bristling with intent, running diagonals and patterns which would twist any league two centre back into a half hitch granny. Never recieving the ball though gradually eroded his dash and his confidence. He became niggly to compensate, gradually allowing his David Speedie to overrule his Dennis Bergkamp (look if you're under 25, you're just going to have to Google it).

And what of Johnnie? In my view (and I appreciate this sounds ridiculous but let's face it, it's never stopped me before) probably his biggest problem is that people are a bit bored with him. Not that he's particularly done anything wrong or that he himself is boring (he's a perfectly nice fella in real life), it's just that being at a club into a third season is rare at the level. The meet the manager thing tonight will be sparsely attended, not because people don't like him but because folks have by now got a good idea what he's going to say. If for example Johnnie had been sacked last week and we'd put Jodie Morris (for example) in charge, people would be all over the thing tonight. Not because Jodie tells better jokes (although again he's a totally nice fella) but just because it's a new voice, something different.

And if we DID have a new manager, and they got us into say 12th this season, I reckon the fan-base would be pretty happy with that. If we got 12th without the ball having snow on it all of the time, all the better. The fans would likely reason that a season of consolidation after losing our best players was a decent effort. They might even argue that finishing 12th THIS season is in many ways a better achievement than finishing 10th last time.

I'd agree. 10th last time with THAT team was only a 7/10 in my book, it'll be harder this time. Of course though we haven't got a new manager, we've got a familiar face who's doing a solid job. 12th (my prediction) would be another solid result, but I'm not sure it would be enough to get the manager a 4th season.

My match report: Swindon Town v AFC Wimbledon.

It's not so much that the hope kills you, we've all gotta go sometimes. No it's the way it strangles and suffocates you slowly, leaving you gasping for breath before eventually the lights firstly dim then extinguish gradually. Such is the cruelty of hope that we aren't actually dead yet, not totally. Ultimately though after this defeat we know that our demise as a playoff contender is inevitable, as sure a thing as Die Hard being on the TV at Christmas.

It had all started so well in the first fifteen minutes. Swindon looked about as disorganised and demotivated as any team I've seen in ages, we tore into them and it looked like there could only be one winner. Big Joe Lewis headed us in front and I think a second goal would have turned it into a potential goal difference job.

Gradually though as we continually gave them ownership of the football, they put down the holiday brochures and began to get interested. Once they'd realised that if they tried something which didn't come off they were only going to have to wait 30 seconds before we gave them the ball back, they relaxed.

Of course we continued to threaten from mortar bomb throw ins, but once they got the games outstanding player (McEchran) on the ball more often, the tide began to turn. The little midfielder pushed and probed, displaying all of his Chelsea pedigree as he nudged his team back into the game.

In the second half they scored three goals. One of them very good, two of them gifted by us. Once we'd gone behind we made three subs, but in truth although we tried our guts out our play had an air of desperation about it. We got one back via the excellent short shorts adding a second, but time was against us and we slipped to defeat.

Defeat here didn't cost us a playoff spot, that has come about as the result of loads of factors which will no doubt be discussed at length. Ultimately this season has been much better than last, I just wonder whether history will judge it positively. I hope so, there has been much to like, despite the way it's ending. I think though that I probably speak for many when I say that I hope this particular brand of "football" isn't going to be our long term blueprint for success.

The long throw. Is it worth it?

There used to be a fella get in a pub I ran years back, Geoff his name was. Once when we rang the time at the bar bell he leapt off his chair and started shadow boxing, the whole place fell about laughing. Timing is everything in comedy as it is in life, Geoff nailed it.

The unfortunate thing was, from that day on he did it every single night he was in. We went full circle in terms of audience reaction. From polite smiles, to total silence, to "sit down silly bollocks" and finishing with people laughing AT him as opposed to with him. I had to have a quiet word with him in the end to save his embarrassment. I definitely don't think I nailed it even though my intentions were good, he stopped coming in.

As I often say, football reflects real life. I don't know if Ronnie Radford tried hitting it from 35 yards every time it rolled near him after his screamer against Newcastle, but I'm pretty sure that if he did he'd have quickly been told to give it a rest.

So what of our throw in? Well after Saturdays winning goal, it's caused two goals to be scored so far (that one plus the og versus Notts County). Given that, am I completely bonkers to be even talking about it? Let's have a look.

The first thing to point out is that Kofi Balmer obviously isn't a right back. He CAN play there, he is good defender who rarely gets embarrassed (if he does it's more of the him failing to control it rather than him getting skinned), and he lets nobody down. But he definitely isn't a right back. I'm going to be so bold as to suggest that if he couldn't throw the football like Captain Caveman hurling a boulder, we would play Ogs or Huss at right back. The impact on us as an attacking unit of having "Not a right back" playing there is quite profound. It isn't the ONLY reason that we have become so bereft of inspiration going forward, but like a boxer with a broken right hand, it is chief amongst the causes.

Then there is the question of the element of surprise. Much of the magic in sport is when someone does the unexpected. Nine times out of ten, it isn't the bouncer which gets the Test cricketer out, it's the yorker when the batter is EXPECTING the short one. We never seem to take the opportunity to throw a quick short one in, to perhaps vary it so the long throw is loopier, hits the edge of the box, even is thrown backwards so we can build the play while they have ten men in their own penalty area.

Like Geoff with his shadow boxing routine, we are in danger of becoming one trick ponies. If the throw in doesn't work (and it normally doesn't) we are seemingly at a loss to come up with an alternative.

So I ask the question. Are we getting it right already and I'm just talking bollocks again? Do we need to mix it up more, or should we play a right back at right back?

My match report: AFC Wimbledon v Salford.

If football matches were pop songs, this one wouldn't have been "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. As to the best of my knowledge he never released a song called "Totally boring shite", we'll have to go with "Bad" by the same artist. I should think we can console ourselves with the end maybe justifying the means, but in truth this was a brutal watch from start to finish. 

Salford briefly threatened to be quite good during the first ten minutes (this was during Kofe Balmers comical "I've never seen a football before" period), but gradually with our ratting and rock solid defence, we snuffed out their creativity, dragging them to our level by their earholes. By the twenty minute mark, the trenches were dug and it was just a question of who would win out.

Would it be them if one of our defenders fell over it and presented them with a chance? or would it be us if one of Kofi's heat seeking throw-ins caused havoc? They almost got first blood when Ryan fell over it but Alex Bass saved our Danish with a good stop. Then, on throw number 107 our tactic (I use the word as a singular deliberately) eventually paid off. I was reminded of the 70's tennis player Vitus Gerrulitis. He lost 17 matches consecutively to Jimmy Connors, then unexpectedly triumphed against him in a small clay court event in Miami. He memorably said in an after match interview that "Nobody beats Vitus Gerrulitis eighteen times a row", and in this spirit our cunning throw in ploy was always going to win through in the end. Here it was thanks to Omar Bugiel, leaping like a kid who's been done with the old "drawing pin on the chair" schooldays prank, to head home expertly. 

From there we huffed and we puffed (I'm talking us in the crowd) but nothing happened. There was just time for Jake Reeves to hilariously disrupt Salford's injury time free kick routine by booting the ball into the stands. In many ways, that launch into "anywhere will do" territory perfectly encapsulated the game.

Still, we won. The dream lives on, and as it's now finished the nightmare that was the game itself is over.

It's a question of balance....

So here we are, the business end of the season. Four games to go, and over the next couple of weeks it'll either be "Let's smash MK and go to Wembley" or it'll be "Well at least we did better than last time".

Fortunately for us, we don't have to concern ourselves with any "squeaky bums". That kind of thing is for Barrow, Crewe and Crawley to worry about, they're already in there and just need to hold onto what they've got. All three of those teams by the way have been excellently managed to this point. None have huge budgets nor massively impressive individual players,  if they make the playoffs that's a fine effort.

So what of us? Well a quick check with the bookies sees that they have us at 7/1 to make the playoffs. That's probably about right, not only do we have some ground to make up but there are a couple of teams behind us with games in hand also. It's been said that we need to win our last four, I'd say even that probably won't be enough. It's not by any means impossible that we get in there, but I'm afraid we do need a couple of snookers.

It's long felt to me (from my view in the stands) that we haven't quite got the balance right between trying to avoid conceding goals/getting beat, and trying to score goals/win. Funnily enough I had that feeling even stronger earlier in the season. Back then we had the best player in the league playing centre forward for us, a sound defence and generally a very good team. If we don't make the cut, it won't be because we got beat one zip at Stockport, it'll be because we didn't go "let's have it, we'll score more than you" at Grimsby, Forest Green etc.

A quick look at the current form table is illustrative. 

Only one team has conceded less than us in the last ten games (Wrexham) but we have the worst attacking numbers in the league. Even Sutton have scored more than double our goals tally, Mansfield have scored almost four times as many.

Whatever happens over the next couple of weeks, it's this balance which needs addressing. At the moment we have two expensive strikers sitting on the bench, our best striker often operating as a ball winning midfielder and our chief threat is from long throws. We don't get forward in any numbers and we don't in all honesty even look like scoring heavily.

My hunch is that we need to get the ball down and play a bit more. I'm not talking Notts County or MK style, but we've got to look on the first pass to at least try and find the feet of a teammate. We need to go through the thirds a bit more. We have good footballers, we need to play and then give others a chance to get up and support the strikers.

We've made big progress this season. Next time around, it's on this balance that surely the focus must fall.