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.