The Lounge

[MacWomble]

Remarkable. I look forward to reading your match reports and opinions. Where did all this fightback come from? Is it all that wet weather and impending economic demise? Whatever it is, Wally the Gaffer needs to bottle it and dispense it at will over the last few games of this dreadful season. If the players could spend the off-season with a hod, young Vinnie J-style, building the new stadium, then maybe they would earn a bit of backbone. In the meantime, it seems a bit of excitement has come back into the season. COYD.

[Windlesham Don]

Do I hear the theme from the Great Escape playing in the background? It certainly feels that way after another three points and another clean sheet.

A horrible gusty day and an uneven pitch made passing football difficult – basically playing into our hands. Southend were poor and obviously lacking in confidence after a poor run of results. We weren’t any better, but the 750 Wombles cheered the players on from minute 1 to minute 90 and somehow it felt throughout that we would get a result.

It was fitting that the winning goal came from a mistake, as hesitation in the Southend defence allowed the Pig to nip in to score. Once ahead Southend barely troubled our defence and we saw the game out relatively untroubled.

If we are to escape then I suspect that Southend will be one of the teams to fall – they seemed to lack belief and looked similar to us a couple of months ago.

The one area of concern was injuries to Nightingale and Pigott, exacerbated by the absence of Hanson (illness, again) and McDonald (injury, presumably). We need to get these back and fit for the arrival of Fuller, Parrett and Gillingham on Saturday for another big match.

If we can pick up another 3 points, and our results against the Gills have been pretty good from memory, then we could even find ourselves out of the bottom 4…

[onyadon]

I think we can take it after three straight wins (all clean sheets) that the Great Escape is ON… it may not take us over the finish line, but it is with great relief and delight to write that the Dons are giving it a huge crack.
Look at this video to realise this new-found fighting spirit within the ranks. Toby Sibbick sprints around 30m to make the tackle and Paul Kalambayi heads the goal-bound shot over the bar to safety. It must be emphasised under Wally/Glyn that both those defenders are home-grown.

Take a bow @tobysibbick and indeed @Paul_Kalambayi – talk about putting it in. Toby makes up 30-odd yards on the guy who had a clear run on goal, to block, with Paul K getting back to head clear. These things make the difference between 0,1 and 3 points. Absolutely brilliant 👍 pic.twitter.com/uaZruPp1nU

— afc wimbledon (@fcwimbledon) March 17, 2019

And check out the form table..

AFC Wimbledon’s League Form Turnaround. #AFCW #AFCWimbledon pic.twitter.com/h2pvQnILhu

— Aidan Hother (@ahotherdesign) March 17, 2019

And not one, not two, but THREE AFC Wimbledon players in the team of the week with Wally as the manager…

Symbolic of the transformation in #afcwimbledon's season under WaG, THREE Dons in the Team Of The Day … pic.twitter.com/IGOTkx2AIT

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) March 17, 2019

Eight games left, reckon we need 12 more points to bring it off…

[Windlesham Don]

Another massive game for us today (aren’t they all from here on in?) The match has been sold out since the start of the week and the club have taken the unusual step of telling supporters not to bother going on the waiting list for tickets as it is too long!

The atmosphere should be great, but the match is too tight to call – we have a solid defence, but a mis-firing attack; Gills have a leaky defence, but are efficient in putting away the few chances that they create.

The absence of Will Nightingale is a blow, especially as Gills have a physical goalscoring front man in Tom Eaves. He needs to be shackled and Will would have been the ideal defender to accept that task – I’m not sure Rod McDonald is physical enough as a deputy and I doubt that Deji will return today. It could be a major test for youngster Paul Kalambayi.

Going forward, it may be key if we can introduce livewire Dylan Connolly against a tiring Barry Fuller for the last 20 minutes. We have threats off the bench and so I will be happy if we follow our recent tactics and stay in the match for the first hour.

For some reason I am more nervous about this match than I have been for a while, perhaps survival is becoming a realistic possibility now? A fifth consecutive clean sheet would be unheard of, as would be a fourth consecutive victory. 2-2 for me and possibly a missed opportunity to ease the nerves…

COYD!!!

[Windlesham Don]

“Hello darkness my old friend,
I’ve come to talk with you again…”

[Windlesham Don]

A few key points IMO from Saturday’s match:

1. Having gone 1-0 up and having looked very good for the first 30 minutes, we seems to lose focus on the basics that had got us the previous four clean sheets. When Gillingham scored the equaliser it had been coming for a while as we had lost focus defensively.
2. Absolutely key to the result seemed to be the Ramsdale mistake which gave them the lead. It was a shock to fans and players alike, it came just before half time which gave the opposition a boost, and it put us behind for the first time in a few matches. I’m not sure the team recovered their confidence from this (which demonstrates just how superb Ramsdale has been for us since January).
3. Giving away a dreadful third goal just after half time was another huge blow. When a player receives a throw and strolls into your penalty area and shoots unopposed then something has gone badly wrong. Hartigan did his best Trotter-esque defending by simply running alongside the opponent with the ball and Thomas did not spot the danger early enough and close the player down. Realistically there was no way back from 3-1 down.

For Saturday we must hope there is no new manager bounce from Scunthorpe, after sacking Stuart McCall this weekend. I also feel that WaG should make a couple of changes to the starting XI. Hopefully Will will return and if so I would retain McDonald and rest Thomas as his form has drifted off in the last few weeks. I would also rest Hartigan and start with McLoughlin. For the run-in I feel we need more competitiveness in midfield and McLoughlin provides that.

In my opinion we now need a win at Scunny. Nothing else will do…

COYD!!

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