Back at Plough Lane, Merton

This match fell into my lap, to start February, whilst I was down in London to pick up tickets for my FA Cup team at the weekend. I had an evening to fill whilst in the Big Smoke and I have always had a soft spot for AFC Wimbledon so I took the chance to go and visit the south Londoners. They moved back to their home borough of Merton for the first time since the disaster of 2004, when the AFC had to be formed by the fans due to the Milton Keynes debacle. Milton Keynes was the successful option of those being considered at the time with one of the rejected ideas being a move to Dublin where the team would still play in the English divisions, so perhaps Milton Keynes was the best of a bunch of bad options.
To me AFC Wimbledon are the true Dons and as such I will be referring to them as the Dons for the rest of this blog.

With that disclaimer out of the way, the game that I saw from the Dons was their league 1 game against Cheltenham Town and it was back at Plough Lane. The Dons went into this game just one point above the relegation game and on an awful run of form. Their last win was on the 7th December away at Accrington in the league and their last home win was against today’s opponents on 4th December in the FA Cup. That game ended 4-3 to the Dons and having seen that I was hoping for another such high scoring game today. Then I saw that the Dons had only scored 2 goals across their 7 games in January and hadn’t scored 2 goals in a single match since a 2-2 draw against Wycombe Wanderers on December 11th and those hopes drifted away.

Their visitors were only 3 points above their hosts in the league having played a game more and came into this match in a similarly dreadful run of form. Cheltenham had not won since 23rd November when they got a 2-0 win away at Gillingham. That was the last of a run of 3 straight wins, but they haven’t won since and they hadn’t even manged to score in their last 2 games in the run up to this one. December 11th is also the last time they scored twice in a single match and, as with their hosts, it was also in a 2all draw though theirs was against Lincoln City. This run had really hurt their goal difference, to the point that a win for the Dons would see them leapfrog the visitors on that score.

With the teams so tightly matched in the league and their awful form coming into this one I was eager to get to the game. The journey was anything but straightforward though as there were delays and then a cancelled destination on the District line as I was travelling on it. Luckily the cancelled destination was Ealing Broadway, which would’ve destroyed my chances of getting to a Bees game, and I was just delayed by 15 minutes at Earl’s Court on my way to Wimbledon Park.

Yep that’s right, just like the famous Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, the best station to alight for Wimbledon FC is not Wimbledon itself but Wimbledon Park instead. It’s just a 20 minute walk from there. You turn right out of the station and then right again when you reach the T junction where ‘ahead’ isn’t an option and 15 minutes later Plough Lane appears on your left. The turn into Plough Lane is easy to spot as it’s marked by a monument to the old Wimbledon FC that the current AFC Wimbledon owes it’s existence too. Finding the stadium itself is a little more difficult as it’s tucked away on the left hand side of the road, just keep your eyes peeled that side as you pass between the Ford and Vauxhall showrooms and you’ll spot it though.

It’s not the most visually imposing stadium from the outside, but it is in the place of the old Wimbledon dog track so it at least has some history in the local community and now it’s making more history for the community with the return of Wimbledon football to Merton. As you step down into the stands you feel as though you are stepping into a Roman amphitheatre, a huge bowl of a stadium that you step into to watch gladiators of the pitch battle out to settle who is the best.

Before I headed inside I needed a ticket and unlike most stadiums this one had no clear ticket office. Collections were done from the till in the club shop, but to actually buy a ticket I had to head out of the shop and down the side of the stadium to a guy behind a rickety table. I was able to buy a ticket for the dugout stand and it was very useful that I was able to get a ticket for this stand as it was the only one I was able to locate the entry too. The rest of the stadium backs onto flats and whilst there must be entry points around those sides I was unable to spot them. I didn’t enter immediately after buying my ticket though as I hadn’t got my keyring or a programme yet, but having picked those up from the shop I was ready to head inside.

Getting inside would turn out not to be as easy as I hoped though as it turned out that my ticket would not scan on the turnstile. Luckily the steward was right there and, after checking with the security personnel waiting to get in behind me, he was able to tap his pass to let me inside. There are more programme sellers, cash or card your choice, just inside the turnstile line as you step into the cavernous concourse. There is so much space on the concourse that it felt like they could play the match in there. There was also space in there for two huge food kiosks, each with its own specialised fast track queue for those who order through the new swipe station app that they were advertising throughout the concourse. I did not try the app, but I did appreciate the free Wi-Fi that came with it.

I cannot eulogise about the concourse and facilities enough at Plough Lane, they were absolutely incredible and if the same quality was evident on the pitch the Dons would be back in the Premier League in no-time. The programme was more indicative of their current position in the league though as it is put together in what feels to be a very haphazard manner. As a seasoned football fan I am used to seeing the team’s player lists either on the back cover of the programme or on the page inside the cover, but AFC Wimbledon instead choose to hide theirs on page 23 of the programme. The coaching teams and match officials info was a page turn further in, with the league table another turn away and the season’s fixtures are two further turns on.

The screen in the stadium was as unhelpful as the programme. It was on the far side of the stadium to me and the writing on it was so small that it’s very lucky for the away fans that it was down their end or they’d never have been able to keep up with what was going on in the game. Not that there were many away fans at the match, though given the journey from Cheltenham and the fact that this was a midweek winter match the lack of travelling fans is perhaps understandable.

By the time I had located these pages I was already in my seat and unable to use the Wi-Fi to note down the starting 11’s and I’d already missed the visitors matchday squad so I had to read those numbers off the players back once play was underway. I did work out 3 of their substitutes though as they stayed out after the warmup to get a little more shooting practice, practice that on the evidence of the earlier warm up was badly needed. One of those Cheltenham subs was a Man named Aaron Ramsey. I knew it was unlikely to be a loan move for the Man who had just joined Rangers from Juventus, but with Robinho agreeing to turn out for a Sunday league team in Shropshire in March I figured anything was possible. It was not him.

The home team sheet was a simpler affair, though the only name I recognised on it was number 21, Luke McCormick. The only other player on the Dons programme that I recognised for the hosts was their designated captain Alex Woodyard, who was left out of their matchday squad with Ben Heneghan given captain’s duties for this match instead. I did recognise the iconic womble mascot for the Dons though, a great nod to the famous song.

The Dons did had a surprise for their fans before kick-off as they unveiled their deadline day signings to the home fans. They had a keeper and, perhaps more importantly, a striker to unveil and given their recent struggles in front of goal it is Sam Cosgrove who comes in with the bigger burden of expectation of the two. Time will tell whether he can live up to those expectations.

The first five minutes of the match set the tone for how this one would be played with a lot of physical tackles raining in from the visitors and the Don’s number 10, Ayoub Assal, bearing the brunt of them early on. Perhaps he used this treatment as motivation though as with the first attack of the match he swept the hosts into a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute.

The opening goal came from a Dons corner on the right that was cleared back to where it came from only for Assal to collect it and advance a couple of yards into the area before flashing the ball across Evans in the Cheltenham goal and in off the left hand post. It was a great finish by Assal and a case of first chance, first goal for the Dons.

Going behind seemed to wake up the visitors as they created their first chance of the match a minute later. They fired it just over the bar from 20 yards out, but it was a sure sign of intent from the visitors. The Dons would not let it go unanswered though and they took control of the match for the next 10 minutes.

The first Dons attack in this time of dominance came in the 12 minute as Assal nabbed the ball off Charlie Raglan and set the Dons forward through McCormick. He laid it off to Terry Ablade with his back to goal, he turned and shot low to the Keeper’s right to pouch the ball and keep things at 1-0. Ablade had a second chance just 2 minutes later, but he launched this effort high into the stands.

The Dons were even able to create opportunities on the break as they cut out a Cheltenham attack down the right in the 15th minute and Ablade was set free down the centre. This time though he was cut off at the knees before he could advance into the box by the hosts Alfie May. This was an extremely cynical tackle from May and many in the home stands were crying out for a red, but the distance from goal worked in his favour and the ref let him off with just a yellow. It would prove to be a very important decision for the match.

First though the Dons wasted another chance when an inviting cross from the right evaded all the waiting Dons players in the box and Cheltenham were able to clear once more. The first 20minutes had been a period dominated by the hosts and a one goal lead was no more than they deserved at this point.

They should have had a chance to double that lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute when Ablade’s chasing of a lost cause down the right resulted in a gorgeous cutback into the path of the onrushing Assal. He did up two visiting defenders like kippers before being tripped by another defender as he went to unleash his shot. The ref saw nothing in this though and gave nothing at all. The visitors thanked him for this by cannoning their clearance into the back of the ref’s head.

Another cynical tackle on Assal in the 25th minute left him flat on the turf requiring treatment, but once again it was only a yellow for the offending Cheltenham man. When Assal was back on his feet and able to continue there was yet another Cheltenham based problem as May refused to get 10 yards from the free-kick until the ref came over and dragged him back. This was a ballsy move from a player already on a yellow card, but once again the ref was in a lenient mood and he remained on the pitch.

These let-offs for Cheltenham inspired them to finally create some threatening attacks as the game reached the half hour mark. Their second chance of the whole match came bang on the half hour as they worked a ball down the right and then their striker, who I had down as number 9 despite him not being in the matchday squad, turned and flashed a shot just over the bar.

This sighter for the visitors prompted a chance of tack for their next attack a minute later and it paid dividends with the equalising goal. They picked up the ball on the right, but this time they switched it across the park to May. He advanced to just inside the left side angle of the penalty area and his driven shot has enough on it to beat Nik Tzanev in the Dons goal at his near post and draw Cheltenham level in the match.

In the 33rd minute things would get even better for May and worse for the Dons as May raced Tzanev onto a loose ball in the area. It looked to me as though Tzanev had won the race and May then went over his hands after the ball had been palmed away from danger. The ref disagreed feeling that May had won the race and Tzanev had taken the player instead of the ball. Since it’s the ref’s decision that matters this meant a penalty to Cheltenham and a chance for May to complete a quick fire brace and give the visitors the lead. May slotted the ball straight down the middle with Tzanev diving away to his left, 2-1 to Cheltenham and a brace for May who was lucky to still be on the pitch. He rode his luck again in the 35th minute as the ref gave him a talking too for an incident that I missed, but which had incensed the fans around me.

The rest of the regulation 45 of the first half descended into a midfield battle that the Dons continued to just about maintain the upper hand in, but they then had no-one to provide the out ball. Assal had the pace to trouble the visitors back line but had decided to consistently come short at this point of the match and this left the Dons with little threat in the final third.

The Dons did create one final first half chance in the four added minutes though as a freekick from their left was headed away by the visiting defence only to land at the feet of McCormick on the edge of the box. He volleyed goalward but it was always rising and ended up ballooning harmlessly high over the bar. The Dons were attacking wide down the right as the ref blew for half time and the frustration of the home fans at this timing was palpable.

The first half may have ended 2-1 to the visitors but I still felt lucky with the match I was witnessing, not only had the Dons managed to score but they had also dominated the majority of the half and only saw themselves behind due to a 3 minute spell visitors who had shown little threat the rest of the half.

The Dons were the first to emerge for the second half and I was certain that if they played as well as they had for the first 25 minutes of the first half they would create the chances to draw level and then win the match. Mark Robinson in the Don’s dugout was thinking down the same lines as he made no changes at half time but nor did Cheltenham’s Michael Duff though who had taken heart from those two quick fire goals.

After the Dons had two kick-offs for the second half, the ref making them retake the first for reasons that were not obvious to me, it appeared that Robinson had made the better call. It took all the way to the 47th minute for the Dons to create their first gilt-edged chance of the half. A cross from the left was headed back across goal from the back post and it looked to be sneaking in as an advancing Don’s striker was pushed over as he advanced to make sure of it’s final position. Nothing was given for this blatant push as Evans was able to shepherd the ball behind for the visitors.

A minute after this dubious decision there followed another. The ref gave Cheltenham a free-kick after a true 50/50 challenge from which neither team emerged with the ball. This turn of events further stoked the anger of the home fans, after the penalty decision that went against them, and they started chanting “2-1 to the referee” then moved on to the old classic “You don’t know what you’re doing”.

The game continued though and the Dons created another great chance in the 52nd minute, with a whipped cross from the right that presented Ablade with a free header from 6 yards out that he somehow managed to aim straight into the keeper’s grateful arms. Cheltenham then went straight on the attack themselves as Matty Blair advanced on the right before nutmegging the Don’s defender opposite him before trying to run through his opposite number. The ref gave him a freekick for this attempt that the visitors took an age to decide what to do with before sending it into the area, where it was pinballed around for far too long before the Dons eventually managed to clear it away.

In the 56th minute the Dons had a freekick of their own on the right hand touchline. They tried to take it quickly, but the ref pulled them back and when they did send it in it evaded all their players including one who ended up in a heap on the turf. Once again nothing going from the ref, third time wasn’t the charm it seems.

As the hour mark came and went Robinson decided it was time to shuffle his pack, taking off Ablade and sending on Aaron Cosgrave in his place. This would prove to be an excellent call by the Don’s Head Coach and having made it in the 63rd minute there was plenty of time for it to make a difference. It almost paid dividends in the 67th minute when a deep cross from the Don’s right was flashed agonisingly wide of the left hand post by Cosgrave.

A minute before that Don’s chance came one of the worst tackles of the match as Reece Hutchinson came flying in like a missile on a Don’s midfielder in centre field clearing him out and leaving him in a tangled mess on the turf. Once again it was just a yellow card from the ref, but it convinced Duff to make his first move of the match and he chose to remove Hutchinson from the field and replace him with Lewis Freestone. Robinson made a move of his own at the same time and took off the excellent Luke McCormick and bring on Ethan Chislett in his place. The match was on a knife’s edge as the match entered into it’s final 20 minutes.

The visitors would have the first chance of these final 20 and it came, once again through Alfie May. He collected the ball 20 yards from goal and weaved his way into the box before unleashing a shot from the left side of the area that squirms just wide of the left-hand post and denied May the hat-trick he so clearly wanted. The sides then traded tame shots into the keeper’s arms over the next three minutes. This convinced Duff to make his second move of the match, this time replacing Kion Etete with Aaron Ramsey.

The Dons created a chance to equalise in the 77th minute when Cheye Alexander had a pop at goal from the edge of the box. It managed to weave it’s way through the forest of legs in the box, but it was infuriatingly off target and the visitors retained their lead. The visitors then had a chance of their own to get the goal that would’ve killed the game off, but their cut back from the by-line on the right hand side sailed straight into the grateful arms of Tzanev in the Dons goal.

As the final 10 minutes of the match approached the Dons were definitely taking control of the game again and in the 80th minute they made use of this control by finally scoring the equaliser. I’m not quite sure how they did it as I missed the build up to the goal, but I saw the finish from Cosgrave. He rifled it across the keeper and into the back of the net, a great composed finish by the substitute to draw the Dons level with 10 minutes of normal time left to play. Enough time for a winner perhaps?

The first team to go close to that winner were the visitors and again it was May with the chance. The ball found him on the edge of the box with space, but his shot was tame and rolled harmlessly through to Tzanev. May would get one more chance before the final whistle. First though both teams made substitutions with the Dons replacing Alexander with Paul Osew in the 83rd minute, then Cheltenham replaced Callum Wright with Charlie Coikett in the penultimate minute of the match.

The rest of the final 10 passed without chances and then May had his second chance to win it in the last minute of the regulation 90. He was sent running after a ball in behind that had the whole of the hosts defence beaten. He reached the ball and sent a shot in to complete his hat-trick and win the game. Unfortunately for the travelling fans Tzanev was equal to the effort getting down to save with his legs and the scores level as the board went up for 5 minutes of added time.

The Dons had a chance a minute in the added period but every time the move broke down at the crucial moment and they didn’t give Evans a single save to make during this period. It began to rain as the ref whistled for full time and that change in the weather was mirrored by the reaction of many of the fans around me, as they saw their team only manage to draw a game that they had controlled almost from start to finish. I was just pleased to have seen goals from each team when their form coming into this one had been so abysmal. Sure it would’ve been great to see the Dons win on my first visit to their home back in Merton, but it was still a great spectacle and nice to see them back where they belong.

My next blog will be chronicling my experience at Frank Lampard’s first match in charge at Everton as he started his managerial reign with an FA Cup match against Brentford and their manager Thomas Frank. It was the battle of the Franks and next blog you’ll find out who won, amongst other things.