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.