Just, wow.
I wasn't confident going into this one at all, to be honest. We were low on confidence, and were playing crap, while they had suffered two fairly heavy home defeats, so were sure to be fired up to get back to winning ways this time. Expecting an attendance of around 1500, I got there with 10 minutes to go before kickoff, with no knowledge of the team or anything. The shock of not seeing Robbo out was a big one, and one that concerned me as I didn't know of any injury problems to our most consistent centre half so far this year. So it would be Saah and Ellis again. I don't know how they played on Saturday, but it was surprisingly good tonight, but I'll talk more about that later.
Anyway, onto the game. It took about 3 minutes for the Dons to almost go 1 ahead, and in reality, they should have done. We failed to play the offside trap again, allowing Christian Jolley in, and his header was superbly denied by the quick reactions of Bobby in goal. The nightmare start was thankfully avoided. Anyway, it was fairly even, both sides having their fair share of possession in the first half hour of the game, a couple of half chances each, but nothing too major. Danny Stevens could have had several attempts on goal, but seemed reluctant to shoot, looking for the extra pass, which often made us lose the shooting opportunity. One of those passes did eventually cause a bit of havoc in the Dons penalty area, eventually falling to Howe, but he lost his footing with his standing foot and slipped (John Terry-esque) as he drilled it over the Away End. However, the next time Danny ran at the defence, and cut inside, he went alone, and thanks to a big deflection it spun into the near corner. 1-0. Wimbledon looked stunned, but didn't let that stop the way they were playing. Unfortunately for them though, a double sucker punch in the 3 minutes before half time effectively sealed the match. The Dons had possession just inside their own half, and one of their centre halves were a bit lax in possession; Eunan dispossessed him, ran the length of the half before expertly lifting it over the onrushing Brown, and into the far corner. It was a fantastically taken goal. The third, another counter attack. Stevens won the ball, played it down the line for Eunan, who played a peach of a cross for Howe, who powered it into the roof of the net on the volley. Another excellent move and an excellent finish by Rene. So, 3-0 at half time, stunning.
The second half started with Atieno on for Stevens, so I can only guess that the little man was injured, otherwise I have no idea why he did it. I really don't rate Taiwo at all, personally I'd rather have seen Halpin or Macklin come on - theres no better time to blood youngsters when you're comfortable at home in my opinion. Still, the Wombles, despite being 3 down, kept going, their heads weren't down at all. They attacked, and created a couple of half chances for Midson and Wellard, who was their best player I thought. Then out of nowhere really, the 4th and final goal came. Again, O'Kane was involved. He intercepted a pass on the halfway line, and it was him and Atieno against one defender. Eunan played it out to Atieno, but unfortunately Taiwo's pass back across towards Eunan was a shocking one, and it was cleared. The clearance reached Howe 25 yards out, took a touch to steady himself before unleashing a power strike into the bottom corner. Seb Brown looked stunned, and rightly so. A lucky let off for Taiwo in my opinion, as he very nearly screwed up the chance, but still. Despite the scoreline, the Dons continued to press and they kept their heads up right until the end, which was very good of them I thought. Considering our heads seem to go down once we go 1 down, it was an impressive sight to see them trying to get a consolation. We did carve out a chance for a 5th late on, after more excellent work by O'Kane and Howe, who supplied a pass across for Bodin about 7 yards out, but his effort was stopped by Brown when he probably should have scored.
So the final whistle went and it was a good home win and a cracking way to stop the rot. Finally, a note on the attendance - surprisingly good, for a Tuesday. As I said at the start, I was expecting 1500/1600 so to get 2,343 is very good. Obviously that's helped by 385 away fans, which was an outstanding turnout for a Tuesday. Very, very good.
As said, the officials were decent, it was refreshing to see that as it's quite a rare occurence.
For what it's worth, here are my ratings;
Olejnik - 7
Oastler - 7
Saah - 6
Ellis - 8
Nicho - 7
Lathrope - 7
Mansell - 7
O'Kane - 9.5
Stevens - 8
Howe - 9
Bodin - 5
Subs;
Atieno - 3
McPhee - N/A
Leadbitter - N/A
It was the first time I've seen Leadbitter, and I liked it, from the five minutes or so. Seems like he can play at Right back, centre back and centre mid. He was taller than I expected, and looked strong and quick. Would like to see him get a game soon.
Taiwo - I may get shot down for this but how much would it cost to terminate his contract? It's obvious why he's been released so much recently - he is awful. He is a passenger - he brings nothing to the table for me, and we'd be better off giving players like Macklin, Halpin a go. Also, it may free up some more space for a loanee or two?!
Saw Forever as I was leaving, good to see you Dave!
