Dons Through to Round 2

The 3rd game I've been to this season, I've got the bug again! Yesterday saw Braintree Town come to Kingsmeadow for the 1st round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.
The game was a wee bit dire to be fair and the 3-0 result was flattering considering that Braintree Town were a man down for most of the game after Michael Alaile was judged to have committed a professional foul on Danny Kedwell. Dons boss Terry Brown also admitted that the midfield needs more bite, you can see his post match interview here. There wasn't anywhere near enough closing down from them yesterday, Wellard and Gregory seemed to let the game pass them by and Luke Moore looked well below his best, when he was replaced by Mark Nwokeji in the 2nd half The Dons finally looked like they had some spark about them. I think Nwokeji deserves a chance start more games than he currently is, think back to how well John Fashanu and Terry Gibson used to play together in the late eighties-early nineties, think Keds and Nokkers up front. The game on Tuesday night against Dulwich Hamlet might be the perfect opportunity to try it out!
Back to yesterday though, the stand out players for the dons were Danny Kedwell who seems to have lost a bit of weight in the last couple of weeks and looks more lively for it and Sam Hatton who just seems to play well every week and when Ryan Jackson came on late in the 2nd half he looked very dangerous although his crossing needs a wee bit of work, if he can get the final ball right the Dons will have a very potent right hand side.
The goals were well taken and well worked, Christian Jolley his chance very well after some great build-up play, Mark Nwokeji rounded the keeper after Sam Hatton put him through from a quick free kick and Danny Kedwell finished well from the edge of the box. Three highlights in an otherwise ordinary game. Still through to the next round, lets hope they perform like we know they can from now!
You can see the highlights here.

And Breathe....

MK Scum Franchise are out of the FA CUP, beaten 4-6 on penalties by Stevenage.

Well done Stevenage, god willing, I will be watching you play AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow on the 27th. You have done us proud.

On the same day that the nation found out about Wills and Kate too! So much good news in one day! I'll drink to that.

Womble 'til I Die

Yes, this is my 14th Tattoo.

I seem to be getting a wee bit 'Womble Militant' with the prospect of the franchise game.

Too far? I don't think so.

My sister did this, she's the tattooist and business owner behind Transfix Body Studio

in Merton Abbey Mills.

I'm sure if you ask her nicely.....

Possibilities

Life's full of them. After the draw for the second round of the 2009/10 FA Cup the world now knows that if AFC Wimbledon beat Ebbsfleet and Milton Keynes Scum beat Stevenage they will be meeting each other in the second round proper of the FA Cup.
Well if you listen to the lazy Journo's at the Guardian, they would have you believe that this is the match that AFC fans have been craving.

I think not. This is possibly the biggest grudge match ever played. This game is about right and wrong, light and dark, Yin and Yang, Morcambe and wis.....wait, not that. Anyway, getting back to the point, when the Football Association agreed that the old Wimbledon could find a permanent home in Buckinghamshire it started a reaction that was nothing short of vehement hate and I'm afraid to say I am one of those people that still feels just as strongly today as I did then.

AFC Wimbledon put the following dignified statement out on their website. Pure class.

I was watching when Wimbledon were relegated from the top flight, I was devastated, I felt lost. What then? we had already been turfed out of *Plough lane by Merton council and the developers and all I could see ahead for the club was a catastrophic fall through the leagues putting out a team of kids every week, maybe even a club going out of business.

Now I go to Kingsmeadow(not as often as I'd like admittedly) and I see the same sort of family friendly club that Wimbledon FC used to be. I see the hopes and dreams of Junior Dons, hoping that they might someday get as lucky as me and see their team in an FA Cup final. I don't see a 'breakaway' club as ESPN lazily described us, we were never a 'breakaway' club we were a murdered club. A club that was sold out by the Football Association and those in charge at the time who had their own agendas.

So which side of the fence to sit on? On one side there is the dignified, professional manner that teaches us to hold our heads up high and support our club in either muted, well behaved silence or go and vent your anger against 'they who shall no longer be named'.
The other way is to stay away from the game believing that if you do go you will be validating a club that should never have come into existence in the first place.
Now some people have mentioned that if you refuse to turn up you run the risk of dividing the support and therefore success that has built up in the last 8 years since the rebirth in 2002.
Well, I don't want the fixture to happen so I guess I'll be rooting for AFC Wimbledon and Stevenage on the 16th November for the respective replays hoping that they meet each other in the 2nd round proper.
If it does happen, I can honestly say I'm torn as to whether to go or not.

Still, to be in 2nd position in the Conference Premier and 1st round proper of the FA Cup isn't bad for an eight year old club the sports ruling body had deemed 'not in the wider interests of football'.


The When Saturday Comes Website has a great piece by Aled Thomas which inspired this one, another AFC Wimbledon fan that writes better than I do.



*The site is now a housing estate.

Howling at the Moon

Haydon plays to the Crowd with his minder!

So, here I am, sat watching X-Factor with a throat so sore that I can't speak, I squeak!
The reason for this, well, it was the first time in two seasons I've been to Kingsmeadow and I bought the shirt and decided to get all 'tribal'. Rightly so too, the referee was so poor that I had to really rein myself in whilst screaming abuse at him due to the fact that we went with a couple of kids. Still managed to leave the ground with an extremely sore throat though. A comment by one of my twitter followers regarding him made me laugh out loud...well laugh out..er...squeak!

The comment was 'He was dreadful, reckon he won a competition to ref the game'. Liam Daish, the Ebbsfleet Manager even agreed about the refereeing decisions, which he alluded to here.

For the record both sides were a bit blunt in front of goal and a nil nil draw was the right result and it means that both sides are still in the hat for tomorrows 2nd round draw. We should win but it's the cup and you never can tell.

Insomnia

So Mrs Rabidbarfly is away. She seems to have taken my sleep with her.

Here I am, wide awake at 2am, anyone know anything that will help that doesn't involve whisky or warm milk?

So sick of this.,

Sweet FA

The Late Great Laurie Cunningham
in his last appearance

Hello folks, it's about half past one in the morning and I find myself wide awake.
As of the end of my shift tomorrow(Friday night) I will be on annual leave so I've been looking for things to do for the next week.
Realising I haven't seen my two best buddies in ages I texted them and asked them if they wanted to hang out this weekend.
It looks like we're going to see AFC Wimbledon take on the mighty Ebsfleet in the first round proper of the F.A.Cup.
If we do manage to get in, it'll be the first time in ages I've been to Kingsmeadow and it should be a great atmosphere!
'MON THE DONS!