NEVER beaten!

There was something in the air. A few of us were convinced that we could go to Wigan and win, but if you asked any of us know it alls "HOW though?", "Why?" you were met with a blank stare. Our losing run had let's be honest gone from some "Sheesh we were a bit unlucky there" games and descended fully into "We didn't just get beat, we got absolutely battered" mode. Nearly all of our talismanic players were either unavailable or at the very best "Willing to give it a go" despite being obviously unfit, and while we couldn't seem to buy a goal we were conceding chances aplenty. Goals against were coming from all angles too. Set pieces, open play, caught on the break, cut open, you name it. But, there was something in the air.

Myles Hippolite (God how we've missed him) was kind of back despite looking about as fit as many of us in the stands, Patrick Bauer hobbled and creaked onto the pitch looking like he'd just literally walked off a budget flight from Australia, and Ryan Johnson was there, as he always is. There and ready to battle for the cause with every last drop of sweat.

The game was a funny one. Wigan had nothing to play for other than their managers assurances to his former club that they'd "Get it done", but they seemed momentarily nonplussed by our "You can HAVE the ball if you want, we don't want it" style. To tell the truth they weren't on their own. For a long time while Exeter led at Burton it looked as if we were pragmatising ourselves into the relegation zone, and our fans urged the players to "Show more urgency", "Get a fucking tackle in", all that stuff. I must confess I did too, we didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

Gradually the home team took control without massively worrying us. At the back though Ryan Johnson, Patrick Bauer and Isaac Ogundere were magnificent. The latter should have those two old pros on his "Christmas cards for life" list, what an education it has been for him playing with the old stalwarts. They survived on know-how, doggedness and determination alone. Ryan & Patrick looked about as fit as me, and at sixty this year and with a few pints inside me I still think I might have been faster than both of em. I said to a lad that I was worried because we couldn't KEEP making these last gasp blocks. Fortunately for everyone though I'm often wrong and was here.

Skivvers meanwhile got sent off for booting the ball into outer space when they were trying to take a quick throw in, and somehow we protected our goal and clung on. Our goalie seemingly hadn't been told that when he was kicking it was the green bit in the middle of the stands that he was aiming for, but it didn't matter any, we reached half time at 0-0.

The second half began and continued in much the same way. Callum Maycock was by now with his Duracell batteries outlasting those around him, Myles Hippolite won a couple of free kicks when somebody breathed on him aggressively and Ali Smith in his praying mantis style got his foot in. Tills and Seds began to venture forward occasionally, while up top Junior and Leyton Stewart ran around a lot, trying to make it look like we WOULD try and score at some point if Wigan weren't careful. Young Stewart is the most obvious Scouse footballer you'll see, all snarl, nip and bite, maximising his pain in the arseness to defenders.

True to form (and in all honesty what choice do we have) we made some subs around the hour mark. Aaron Sasu jogged onto the pitch with his "I've just won a competition" nonchalance, Zak Nelson (more on him later) joined him, and Junior Hackford. In truth none of the three could point at any particularly sparkling recent performances, but by virtue of the face that they can run and aren't actually injured, they were the obvious introductions.

The game meandered on, Burton (bless em) equalised and our heroic defence (which the whole team participated in) kept Wigan at bay. It was around this point that I said to my mate Ju "All it takes is one moment of magic"......

Cometh the hour, cometh the man and the ball bobbled into the Aron Sasu sphere just outside their box. Now I'm not sure who has taken more stick for this lads performances, him, Johnny ("Sasu must have something on him") or me for bigging him up so much. All of us though have suffered as this kid has looked like a lost puppy in a Wimbledon shirt. In truth this performance up until then had been no different. He'd half jogged, half ran around a bit, jumped in the vague direction of headers and generally not really gotten involved much.

Here though, out of nowhere, something clicked. The rumoured "best player on the training pitch" suddenly decided to show it. There was a little drag back, a dip of the shoulder and a swerve which magnetised three defenders to him before a deft little release to a sprinting Zak Nelson. He pinged it across the six yard box and the world held it's breath. Loitering with disinterest on the penalty spot was Antoine Hackford. Now this kid has been ridiculously labelled with the dreaded "He doesn't care" tag (along with Sasu) but here like a leapord exploding out of the long grass on the Serengeti he glided across the turf to smash in the near post winner.

The away end descended into magnificent "Limbs" until we nervously realised we had to survive five minutes injury time. There was still an opportunity for the magnificent Ryan Johnson in classic Peter Kay "AVE IT!" style to smash the ball into the opposite corner. Meanwhile Sasu no double buoyed by his game changing contribution took the ball and in a passage of play with looked like four spiders having a punch up in a kebab shop, won us a corner. The ref blew up and it was mayhem.

Johnny gave it the Jürgen Klopp "YEAH, YEAH, YEEEAAAAHHH" to the fans and as he put both hand on his head, there were probably tears in his eyes. There were in mine.

There was still time for Zak Nelson's Mum to make a big impression on a few lads on the train back "He's got a hot Mum, he's got a hot MuuuUUUUM, Zaki Nelson, he's got a hot Mum!" was the chant they were trying to get going in the Alex.

What a day though, what a team. One for the ages. Thankyou to the players and management team. ❤️

Ryan Johnson is totally wrong.

Let me make this clear before big Ryan comes round the Alex and volleys me over Elys roof, I love him. He's my favourite senior player at the club and he's been an absolute hero for us since the day he signed. Where he's totally wrong though is in his "I can't make excuses for that performance" interview (the one against Plymouth). What?

Look, a couple of quick points here. Firstly, big Ryan Johnson hasn't got to make excuses for ANYTHING in my book. He's playing while not fully fit and as always, he's giving 100% for the badge as a bear minimum. Second, if we WERE to look for "excuses" let's be honest here there's plenty of them. Half of our first choice eleven has been ripped out through injuries, those that are left standing are knackered and as luck would have it, we've just ran into three excellent teams in our last three home games. All three of those teams were going all out for the playoffs and all three have budgets which make ours look like chump change. Meanwhile we're playing with either untested, unproven and/or unfit players up top, while they're bringing the likes of Ali Al-Hamadi and Bim Pepple off the bench.

So don't tell me there are "No excuses", please don't. It's actually a monumental effort that we arrive where we are with two games to play, but we have plenty of excuses for being on a poor run right now, let's get that bit straight first.

The bit where folks who say "Forget the excuses FFS" are spot on, is that right now they don't matter much. We cannot change what has happened in the previous 44 matches or indeed why it happened, the only thing we can influence as a club is what happens in our next two. It obviously follows that we can't influence how Exeter, Orient etc get on, so no point wasting time worrying about it. What we DO know is that if we win our last two games we definitely stay up. Win one of them and we almost certainly do.

So let's have a look at that. First let's state an absolute cast-iron fact. If you'd have said to ANY Wimbledon fan pre season that we'd be outside the relegation zone with two games to play, it wouldn't have been your arms you would be worrying about. The simple truth is that any Wimbledon fan with a clue would have eaten you whole like a rainforest cannibal, never mind any of that "arm at the elbow" stuff. And that hasn't happened by accident either. It's the result of some heroic performances from the players and some deft coaching, the highpoint of which was obviously the pivot from attritional football to full on gung ho "Ossie Ardiles" mode. Had our players stayed fit in sufficient number, that switch would have seen us comfortably safe, but they didn't and we aren't.

So we arrive at this point. Two games to go, away at Wigan and at home to Huddersfield. The good news is that NEITHER have got anything to play for. We will arrive at both games significantly more motivated than our opponent, and in football that's a big thing. Second positive, I've a hunch that our best player (Marcus Browne) will play. He obviously makes a huge difference, and it's very likely that if he DOES feature he'll score a goal in at least one of the matches. The third bonus is us, the fans. Now I heard some boos after the Plymouth game, and I would absolutely URGE those folks to look at themselves in the mirror. Before any of us talk nonsense about the players "Not trying" or the manager not "Having a clue", how about asking ourselves how much of a difference we as fans are making. Are WE giving OUR all? Don't think it makes a difference to the players? Well you've never played football before then.

So we go to Wigan on Saturday, and I know we'll be travelling in big numbers. Whoever is fit enough to walk onto the pitch in a Wimbledon shirt needs to know that there'll be no groans for misplaced passes, no cries of anguish at skied shots. They need to know that the supporters are with them for every yard that they run, every tackle they make, every header that they win.

And make no mistakes. We've GOT PLENTY of excuses but if the whole club sticks together we won't need them. We WILL get a result, and we WILL stay up. COYD

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

I was a bit disappointed when I got back to the pub last night if I'm honest. Not with the football match (how could you be disappointed in that?) but with the reaction of some of our fans online. After a magnificent match which was full of excitement and incident, the fact that we had come out on the wrong side of a six goal thriller meant either that some players should never wear our shirt again, the manager is an idiot or a combination of the two.

Supposedly we are to ignore how excellent we were in the first half? We're supposed to discount the fact that we've completely turned our season around with these gung-ho tactics, and we have to ignore the obvious point that in Dom Ballard Orient are lucky enough to have a striker who is at the very least one of the best at the level and more probably too good for it?

I'm sorry this "Yeah but, ignore that bit" stuff doesn't really work for me. Playing like we are requires bravery. It can't happen if the manager isn't brave, the players need to be super brave to keep bombing forward, and the fans need to be brave too. Bravery in this context means accepting the fact that if your first obsession is no longer about defensive shape, sprinting to get back behind the ball and not over committing forward, you ARE going to concede more chances. Not only that, but when you run into a striker as good as Ballard is, you're likely going to concede more goals too. We got outscored yesterday, it'll happen sometimes, but give me THAT game over an hour and a half of arm wrestling and a 0-0 draw any day of the week. If you REALLY try to win, you have to be less afraid of losing. That's where we are, enjoy the ride.

Some thoughts after the Northampton game.

The crowd.

I hear a lot of people talking about why they boycott this competition. You can't help but hear it, they bang on about it continuously. Quite why they feel the need to do that rather than simply not turn up is a constant mystery to me (much like people who "don't do" MK away), but both teams were well supported last night and both sets of fans got behind their teams. It felt like a proper game and so it should, it was two steps from Wembley.

On this point I'm not saying folks should or shouldn't go, it's up to them. But I don't need to know every five minutes what their reasons are.

Our performance

Johnny looked pretty angry after the game, particularly with the first half performance. I didn't think we were great there myself, and aside from bits of Junior NKeng inspired excitement there wasn't too much going on.

The manager alluded to the team not looking the same as it had in the last two and a half games and it was hard to argue. The most significant and obvious difference was in midfield, we very obviously lacked the drive and running power which has made us look a much better team. Added to that the captains natural "sitting" point is a good ten paces deeper than that of Ali Smith. The result of that is firstly that we aren't able to put anywhere near as much pressure on the football in the centre circle, and our passing becomes stilted because Jake is standing next to the centre backs rather than in front of them.

In fairness to "Skip" he did play our best pass of the game into NKeng for our goal, but my suspicion is that if he IS going to get back into the team he is going to have to adapt to the fact we need him 15 yards further up the pitch. The danger from there is one of mobility and the likelihood that he would get exposed for pace. It's precisely because of this and the fact that he can read that danger that he sits so deep in the first place. It's a proper conundrum that one.

Jake is an excellent footballer though who always gives 100% whatever the situation. He reads the game like a book and is no doubt fully aware that if we go back to a more "wait & see" style, he has a much bigger opportunity to get regular minutes. That or he'll come back as a Franz Beckenbauer sweeper or something.

Patrick Bauer

I do wish football fans would be a bit more understanding and think twice before they call players "Shit" online. Patrick will know last night wasn't his career highlight, but nor was he "shit" either. For the first goal he would have gotten the alarm bells even quicker than the fans that have a clue did once he was left one on one with the centre forward. That's a team failure though that he was left like that, he's there to head it not be Virgil Van Dyke. If he had his time again he'd show the fella onto his left rather than letting him come inside and hit it, but it was a good finish in fairness.

Before the second he might have broken his nose a couple of minutes earlier when the ball hit him on the underside of it. I don't know if he did as I'm not in touch with the medical team, but even if he didn't I can tell you that is unbelievably painful. His eyes will have been streaming like a little kid, and moments later they scored. He isn't the first centre half to get out muscled by Tom Eaves, but it's the moment he froze and didn't follow him in which will sting the most. ALL centre halves make mistakes though, it doesn't mean they are shit in my opinion and definitely doesn't mean they deserve disrespect. This lad has been a great pro, still is, and though his powers may have finished a bit he is still giving it 100%.

Junior NKeng.

Any Wimbledon fans who haven't seen him yet, you'd better come down to Plough Lane soon. My guess is we are going to fielding multiple offers for this lad in the Summer and he'll be off. Given that, we may as well guess at the price.

I'll go first, my STARTING point (I wouldn't answer the phone for less) would be £800K & a 20% sell on clause. We'll have to take a lot less than that if there's only one club in for him, but there won't be. I think even a Bournemouth or an Everton might take a punt at a million quid then loan him out. Players that can beat people & excite fans are worth their weight in gold, and this kid will obviously get MILES better. Reminds me of that Rio Ngoma kid at Liverpool.

Matty Stevens

I thought he had his best game since he came back from injury and capped it off with a typical Matty Stevens goal. The difficulty for him is that in our new style Marcus Brown (if he is to remain up front) and Omar Bugiel as good as pick themselves. Our most natural finisher is going to have to wait for his chance then take it when it comes, but that's his game.

Callum Maycock.

Thank God Johnnie took him off last night. Not because he wasn't playing well, but because he has morphed into a vital part of our midfield and we need him on Saturday. Our only midfielder that consistently gets ahead of the ball and our only one with Duracell endurance. I hope he realises it (I'm still not sure he does) but right now he is surely one of the first names on the team sheet.

Joe Lewis.

Cannot catch a break for love nor money. One of our very best players when fit, right now he just can't seem to get there. I hope this ones not too serious, we need him and he's nearing the end of his contract. My guess is at that point he'll be offski, but beating the injuries works for everyone. We get a brilliant defender & an inspirational leader, Joe gets a good deal wherever he goes because he's proved he can stay fit.

What a difference a week makes!

THAT'S my kind of football!

First thing to say about today is that it was a magnificent game of football. The woman in the high rise flats could have been trying on her swimsuit collection never mind displaying her freshly bought garden furniture, you couldn't take your eyes off this one and I didn't, not for a second. Chaotic, end to end, loads of chances for both teams and five goals. It was lovely to win it, but even at two two in our section of the ground everyone was loving it. Give me this over a "hard earned clean sheet" any day of the week.

We forget at our peril that professional football is part of the entertainment industry. This was the most entertaining game of the season by a billion miles, I loved it. And we are FAR BETTER in my opinion when the game is fast paced and chaotic like this one.

Johnnie Jackson

Often maligned for being "too safe" or "too predictable", the manager deserves huge credit for so radically changing our style of play and getting it working in the space of only a few days. Now pressing much higher, committing far more men forward and defending with a much higher line, gone is the desire to be risk averse and the players are positively embracing the new approach.

When you add in the extremely brave move to bench the skipper and our most natural goalscorer, you have a man who is really going for it. Mixed in with all that are some very shrewd tactical tweaks. The most obvious one today was detailing Callum Maycock to man mark Lewis Wing in the second half (Ali Smith when Callum went off). It completely blunted Reading as an attacking force and changed the course of the game. Well done Johnnie 👏

James Tilley

How good as he been since he came back? Another superb display, making it three inside a week. Wycombe must be watching him and thinking WTAF? He has totally transformed us with what he brings to the team, solid defensively and with some real cut going forward.

Until he scores (it looks around the corner to me) I'm going to back him every game TO score at any time. I'd strongly advise anybody reading this to do the same. Take it as payback for having to endure my drivel.

Callum Maycock

I might be totally wrong on this, but my impression is that Callum has had imposter syndrome since coming to us. It took him a while (it looked to me) to really believe he was good enough for League two, he's done the same with League One. I for one though think he's a fine player, combining Duracel up and down running with moments of real quality. I thought he was absolutely magnificent today, his metronomic movement setting the pulse for a great display from the team.

I hope he himself is now convinced. He's a league one player alright and one who in my opinion gets into our best team. His marking job on Lewis Wing today turned the course of the game on its head.

Marcus Brown.

Wow. I'm not just talking about the goals either, he was brilliant on and off the ball. I must admit I felt a bit sorry for Callum Maycock. He has by far his best game in a Wimbledon shirt & our best player scores a hat-trick to deny him the MOM accolade 😂.

My one criticism of Marcus today was when he told Junior NKeng to pass it backwards in the first half rather than take his man on. It's a judgement call and a matter of opinion, but I'd be telling kid to just go for it again and again. Then again.

Marcus Brown though. In this form he looks like what he is, a Championship player playing in League One.

Three or four more wins and we can relax. A fantastic week, COYD 👊

A win! Some thoughts on last night's victory at Port Vale.

Ryan Johnson.

Football is all about players. You don't win if they don't play well, you lose if they don't. The fella in the picture above has never had a better game in a Wimbledon shirt arguably since the 3-0 away win at Sutton. He was absolutely magnificent, a colossus at the back and the foundation upon which our performance was built. Obviously MOM, at his best he is some defender.

James Tilley.

There were many groans and "Let the greedy bugger lie in his bed" posts when he returned (wrongly, how many fans would turn down a huge pay rise at THEIR work) but they've gone quiet now. I live in hope that he'll rebuild the trust he had with the fans not because of his departure but because of him having a go at them after a defeat, but anyway. All that aside, he is an excellent footballer who has instantly made us a better team. He's very rare at this level in that he can go both ways and hit it off both sides, he was excellent against Bolton and just as good last night. I don't like the attempt at a tash overly, but such is my total uncoolness my guess is that probably makes the young fella like it even more. We are very lucky to have him back, and the decision to make the deal was an excellent one by whoever made it.

One last thing on James. That was a bad tackle by him in the first half, I thought he was a little lucky. There are many reasons Port Vale are bottom, one of them is that they aren't co-ordinated on the pitch. Had they collectively gone berserk, surrounded the ref & whipped the crowd up, our man might have been in big trouble.

Marcus Brown.

There were moments, with Marcus there always is. Our best player played one pass to the new lad which was absolutely magnificent, he is the only player we have that can do stuff like that. It should have led to a penalty (more on that later) and I thought Marcus had a solid game. I'm not sure I like him though off the front man, I think we waste him a bit in there. As a 10 behind a front two would be my spot for him, like a kind of Florian Wertz at Liverpool role.

The referee.

I suppose I could just about forgive him for not giving the foul on the new lad from Marcus's pass. You needed a couple of angles on that one to confirm that in the tangle of legs there was an obvious foul committed and it was therefore a definite penalty. The direction the ball went after the foul suggested the defender might have played the ball (he didn't), so without any help from his linesman I can forgive that one. The Junior NKeng one though? Fucking hell you don't get much more clear cut than that. It's right in front of him and anyone who has played football can see it coming a mile off. THAT was even a penalty when I played, to not give it was an astonishing decision. Anyone who has the misfortune to have read my stuff before will know I'm definitely not a one-eyed fan who is biased towards us all of the time. Usually when everyone shouts "It's a pen ref!!!" I'm going "Nah not for me". Not here though, they were BOTH penalties and to NOT give the first was an awful decision.

Our playing style.

Johnnie and the coaches deserve huge credit for taking the second half of the Bolton game and running with it here. Gone were the endless attempts to slow the game down, there were some much quicker throw ins, the keeper released it early and there were even a couple of quick free kicks (mostly from Ali Smith who was also very good). We pressed high and were very unlucky to not get a reward a couple of times, and we committed bodies forward. Most pleasing was that even with just a few minutes left, we still got forward in numbers. We didn't take the "good point" at a "tough place to come", we went for the win. In short we were brave, and in the end we got our rewards with a great goal and three points.

Johnnie Jackson.

Has been accused plenty recently of having his favourites, seemingly undroppable players who seemingly get the nod regardless of performance. Last night's selection will have pleased those who were saying it, and no doubt there'll be plenty of "I told ya FFS" sprinkled around this morning. Some of the calls are big though, selecting an 18-y-o who hasn't as of yet provided much end product, dropping the captain, playing Seddon as one of a three, dropping our most natural finisher etc etc. These are BIG calls and the manager deserves credit for making them. Like pretty much all of us, he's better when he just goes "Fuck it" and shoves all his chips in the middle.

The travelling fans 

I didn't go, watched it on the SKY plus. All you could hear was our fans, I thought we must have taken 800 or something. Then the camera panned over to them and there were less than half that. No wonder either, it was a magnificent effort to get up there. To generate THAT much noise though? Wow. Sometimes clubs refund tickets when they play shite and get battered away, here they should send them all a catering pack of Strepsils! There won't be many in that away end who'll be able to sing opera this morning.

A brilliant night. The players are off today, well deserved.

One last thing.

The new striker. Give him a chance, he actually played in the first team for Liverpool at Anfield. He ain't gonna be no mug, see the lad play before you give up on him.

AFC Wimbledon. Where we are, my two penneth worth.

I listened to the Wombles had a dream podcast just now, it was brilliant. It always was brilliant, but for a few months I've kind of checked out of football a bit and I left it (listening). I've still been going to games, even gone to a few away trips, but I've had real trouble getting as "Up for it" as I normally do. That's not a criticism of Johnnie, Skivvers, the players or anything, it's football in general. Someone offered me a pair of free tickets to go see England at Wembley a while back, it took me about five seconds to politely decline. The five seconds were spent thinking of an excuse, not on making a decision. Anyway for some unknown reason I can feel it coming back, listening to the podcast this morning definitely helped, thankyou.

So anyway my thoughts, in no order at all.

Things aren't quite as bad as they look.

Don't worry I'm not going to get all happy clappy on you, of course we're playing shite I'm not blind. The GOOD news is though that if you'd shown any sensible Wimbledon fan a picture of this league table before a ball was kicked, they'd have bitten your arm off at the elbow. Sure it would have felt better if we'd kind of picked up points consistently rather than all at the start then none for ages, but beggars can't be choosers. Equally it'd be better if we were playing better and banging goals in left right and centre, but we are where we are.

Whichever way you cut it however, from here we have a great chance of staying up. My guess is that it will be close (in my judgement we are currently the worst team in the league on form), but we have given ourselves a huge chance. We don't from here need to win every week, we just need to win SOMETIMES and draw a few. That would be plenty good enough, so as much as you can keep your chin up. BTW on that subject Port Vale isn't even close to being the "Must Win" that people say it is. It's not even a "Must not lose". Port Vale are in contrast to us already down, losing three points to THEM is just three points. We obviously though are very capable of winning the game, we should go absolutely all out to do just that. No sitting in for a draw, get after them and win.

Marcus Brown.

Our best player by a fair distance and yet still we as fans are seemingly. underwhelmed. He as a player looks like  he feels like he underachieves. Nine goals this season (without which we'd be fucked) and using the age old barometer ALL of which in the league were on the road, ought to have the fans singing his name. And yet, and yet.

So what is it with Marcus? Well firstly to repeat myself, he is by far our best player, it isn't even close. I must admit though that I myself don't "love" him, and why is that? Firstly stating the obvious is because despite his output, it's as plain as the hooter on my face that he's obviously capable of much more. He is probably a Championship player in terms of ability, but we don't quite get it.

Now if Marcus was silly enough to read this, he'd no doubt say "Hang on silly bollocks what do you want FFS? I'm the top scorer in the team and without me you'd be fucked". He'd be right too, so what DO I want (silly bollocks)? 

Well, I think the best player in the team has a duty to lift the other players, to make THEM play better. I think he has a responsibility to get outside of his own headspace and get into theirs. I think he has the onus upon him to be the beating heart of the team, in much the same way as Maradona was for Napoli & Argentina. See there's no such thing as a one man team, but there IS such a thing as a team which is miles better because of one man. Marcus is out best player, he knows it and the other players know it too. That warrior who is leading the forces to heights they didn't realise they could reach role is vacant in our team, and it's vacant because only HE can do it. The other players need him.

And in a nutshell how do you coach that? Well if Marcus imagines he's 34 years old while he's playing that'd be a start. He's talented enough to still play league One at that age, and what would he do if he did? Well he'd drop in, get it, give it, rinse and repeat. He'd be doing little no look reverse passes, sliding people in down little corridors. When the opportunity came to have a shot, he'd keep his head down and keep his technique solid. He wouldn't snatch at it and screw it wide like the young players do and he does now. He'd be putting his arm around the refs shoulders and cajoling him, not screaming in his face like the young players do and he does now.

In short he'd be taking responsibility. He wouldn't be a one man team because there's no such thing. But he'd be playing for a team which is much better when he is in it. My guess is the fans would love him too, THAT'S the Marcus Brown that Id love to see.