The Lounge

[Colum]

When we went 1-0 up on Saturday, it seemed to me out game plan changed. We sat back and let them come to us. If that was the intended tactic, it failed miserably.

Ramsdale’s mistake was the game changer, something he immediately acknowledged. He held his hand up to the players and importantly to the fans. Respect! Even after the Giils equaliser, he was analysing whether he could have done better. He couldn’t have. It was a fierce shot from close range low down to his left. The very fact that he got down and put a hand to it was something else. Most other keepers wouldn’t have even managed that.

This was a day where too many players had a bad day. Apart from Ramsdale, Seddon had a shocker. For most of the second half he was aimlessly wandering around the Gills half. Hartigan and Thomas were at fault for their laughable third, and how on earth they scored from that free kick is beyond me.

Young Kalambayi rightfully was the only one to come out of the smelly stuff smelling of roses. He was superb and made the MOTM decision easy. Piggott kept trying, but once Hanson came on, he seemed unsure of what his role was. Hanson looks like he’s still got to shed a few pounds to be fit judging by his frequent hands of hips stance.

On another day we’d have won that game easily. We’d a perfectly good goal disallowed, had a couple of penalty shouts, and scored two goals. In my mind none of the penalty shouts had any real basis, but you’ve seen them given. Perhaps seeing old friend Fuller barge into Connelly off the ball was a pen, but we’d given up caring by that stage.

Talking about giving up, the ref inexcusably allowed a Gills player to receive treatment on the pitch, and then not bother to send him off the pitch when play restarted. Throw is stopping play when we had the ball on the edge of their area, for an “injury”, and when play restarted, not allowing us to challenge the ball and them booting the ball back to Ramsdale in his area. This is sportsmanship gone mad.

[MacWomble]

A most interesting result at Scunthorpe and a welcome brace from Hanson. What are we setting up here: abject failure at Accrington (where?) and Oxford? If this is some stirring of life into this moribund season, then it is going to keep the fans coming through the turnstiles for the weeks to come. A win at Accrington and we really can start believing. Who would have thought! Look forward to reading your posts.

[onyadon]

Plenty to be optimistic about our survival chances after the great win at Scunthorpe. With six games left Wimbledon are only in the bottom four on goal difference, with some winnable games coming up. I make it that the Dons need 9 points out of the remaining 18 to stay up.
Given that the Dons have won 5 of their last eight games and are 4th on the form table that’s not out of the question.
Wally and Glyn are getting the best out of the team, even James Hanson, a crock for most of the season, scored the winning double at Scunny, one a signature header off a set piece and then finishing off Joe Pigott’s back heel pass after Aaron Ramsdale launched a massive long ball from his area to set it up.
There is no doubt W&G have transformed the team since taking off in December, look at these stats to see the about-turn…

Wally Downes #afcwimbledon league record this season:
2️⃣0️⃣ games
2️⃣8️⃣ pts#AFCW league record this season before his appointment:
2️⃣0️⃣ games
1️⃣4️⃣ pts

He has won double the amount of points they had before his arrival.#DownesButNotOut pic.twitter.com/6DeQHNG7NI

— Goodbrand Stats (@StatsChristian) March 30, 2019

Of course, yet again, there is not much margin for error in the run-in, it’s incredibly crowded at the bottom, a few points in it, but the Dons are close to having in their own hands if they can get points from Accrington(h), Oxford (a), Bristol Rovers (h), Luton (a), Wycombe (h) and Bradford (a) on the final day.
One thing for certain, at least the team is giving this survival caper a red hot crack, and we didn’t think that was possible a few weeks back. Look forward to the others’ thoughts.

[Colum]

Only a win against Accy will make me think the great escape is on. Lose that game, and we’re right back in the steamy smelly stuff. If results go our way, and only the Walsall v Oxford game looks dodgy, we could be out of the bottom four. A win on Saturday and five points from the Wycombe, Oxford, and Bristol games, and we’re on the mystical 50 points. Could that be enough? Keep on biting those nails.

[Devon Womble]

Hmmm… My response to onyadon’s question could be “Ask me that when we have 51 points…” but there’s no doubting the team have a more positive outlook these days. Without mentioning names (they are routinely missing from the team sheet or have gone to foreign climes anyway), WD has clearly either sussed out what and who makes the squad ‘tick’ (give Nightingale an offer he cannot refuse please), or he’s been reading the forums… or both.
So it’s nine points required from eighteen… Well, personally I doubt we’ll get anything from Luton, and I just see the Bradford game as a dour struggle in the mud; (mud that I sincerely hope is not the graveyard of our season for us.) That leaves four games, which, on present form, we might just get those nine points from.
Oh lor… there was me, resigned to not having to worry about biting my nails when I accepted relegation before Xmas, and now I’m back doing it again. Sigh… what it is to be a Dons supporter!

[Windlesham Don]

There has definitely been a change in mood around the club over the last couple of months. Wally and Glyn seem to have got the side more organised and more enthused. The players can see a way out of the pre-Christmas mire and they are intent on survival. The supporters are buying in to the attitude they are seeing on the pitch and are getting behind the team.

The Gillingham match was a reality check, showing what happens when confidence becomes arrogance and individual jobs are forgotten. But hopefully it was just that, a reminder to keep focused at all times on the pitch.

Accrington arrive on a bad run of form and hopefully mentally tired from a big midweek match against Sunderland. We remember how tough the first season in a League 1 is – with a small squad the initial euphoria of promotion slowly gives way to a post-Christmas battle for survival. Both Accrington and Wycombe are in that battle now, but we are battle-wise, much stronger with a full squad, many of them fresh from not much football.

IMO we should stick to our recent tactics, keep the first hour tight, avoid any defensive cock-ups (Aaron please note), but keep the tempo high and take any chances presented. In Connolly, Wagstaff and Folivi (or possibly Appiah, Barcham or Pinnock) we have substitutes who can create and influence play – I will not be downhearted if the match is all square after an hour…

If we can be slightly more clinical up front and cut out the silly mistakes at the back, then I am confident that we can gain the three points to leapfrog us out of the relegation zone.

Worringly, I am going to predict a professional victory tomorrow…

COYD!!

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