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.