The Lounge

[Wimbledon_rumours]

Birthday today the big 20 so hoping it’s a sign for a 2-0 win tomorrow night against the scum feel like we may do alright this season we could of grabbed a point against Rotherham and they will be up there so here’s hoping

[Cape Cod Womble]

ok not the greatest of starts and we are looking ahead a game we must get a result out of v Accrington. Two 2-1 losses is not the end of the world (I thought that Rotherham would be hard to beat but was quite hopeful of a result at Fleetwood.

The best said about the scum match is to get it over with. Hopefully with a win, as last season opened up a money spinning tie v West Ham. But it really is a sickening tie. I don’t like it having to play them at all.

On Saturday I was at Blundell Park instead to see the Mariners take on Bradford. My pew high in the Upper Findus afforded not only a great view of the shipping along the Humber (no installation vessels laden with wind turbines from my project Hornsea One to admire this time) but a great opportunity to see how my favourite James Hanson is getting along in the black and white stripes. Typical to form he contested manfully and chased well despite a swirling wind that didn’t help his positioning and flick ons.

Hanso had declared that if he scored that he would not celebrate against his old team (he is the third highest all time scorer for the Bantams after all). However in the second half with Town trailing 0-1,his trademark forceful run to meet a corner met with a headed firmly planted into the corner in front of the adoring hard core Town fanatics in the Pontoon End. He headed to that corner and had a small celebration, such was the atmosphere in the ground it would have been hard not to. He was at the opposite end to the Brdaford fans anyway. It was a bustling, entertaining opening fixture at Blundell Park. James Hanson should have a good season if he can stay fit.

Come on you Dons, let’s turn things around and quick!

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[Windlesham Don]

I really can’t get any enthusiasm up for tonight’s match against the club that shouldn’t exist. I probably won’t even listen on iFollow (if it actually works!)

Having said that, it is an important match despite my disinterest, as we need a performance and a win to kick start our season. The longer we go without a win the easier it is for confidence and team spirit to slip away, and with a squad low on quality to start with these non-technical qualities are vital for our survival prospects.

IMO we have two vital league games in August, Saturday against Accrington and the last day of the month against the somersault with pike brigade of Wycombe. Although our style may be better suited to grinding out points away from home this season, we need to pick up wins at home against fellow relegation candidates – we certainly can’t afford to lose against them.

Vital that we get Trott, Nightingale and Wordsworth back in the squad, as we also can ill afford any serious injuries to our already paper-thin resources.

Already time to keep our fingers crossed I feel…

[Colum]

I couldn’t be arsed to travel after work to Kingsmeadow for a largely meaningless game. I did occasionally dip into twitter feeds to see what was happening, and stopped once the general emotion was one of “I wish I’d stayed at home.”

We’ve yet to get past round one of this mickey mouse cup since we rejoined the league. I can understand why Wally says we didn’t lose this game, but we did. What’s more, by the sound of it we should have lost it in the 90 minutes.

We leaking goals, but the difference from last season is we’re scoring them too. Thank God for that. So we need Will back in defence. It’s good news that the scan hasn’t shown any serious damage, so Will wrap yourself in cotton wool and get back soon.

As for Accrington, it looks like Trott will be back in contention having played 90 minutes today. Will he get the nod over Tzanev? Acci lost to most people’s promotion favourites Lincoln in their only game so far. Let’s hope we can make that “Lost” total double in size, and kick start our season. Who knows with a draw at Ipswich, the table could look a whole lot better this time next week.

[Singapore Don]

In the end I decided I would go to support my team and endure the awfulness of having to watch an opposition which should not exist and which makes me sick to the core. The unspeakables in the away stand were quite simply unbearable. I will never set foot in the thieves’ place up north, but I will support my team at home whatever the horror show we have to endure.

As a game of football, it was actually entertaining: a yo-yo’ing of goals and penalty misses on both sides, with the exhilaration of a 94th minute and virtually last kick of the game goal. But in truth, this was another sobering evening of realisation that we really are not a very good team. We desperately missed Will NIghtingale’s leadership and organisational direction. We missed, as ever, any creativity or flair in midfield. And as ever, our frontline looked toothless and ineffectual. To be fair to Kwesi Appiah, he did show a lot of fight and energy, battling hard up front and tracking back to make crucial tackles on the age of our own box. Credit where credit’s due, Appiah was ok.

But Joe Pigott? For some time I’ve had my doubts about Joe, and after last night, they have firmed up in to real worry. He is not big enough, quick enough, strong enough, creative enough – he just is not the target man or pacy, creative striker who can inspire hope and confidence in the stands. Last night he looked so out of place, and his two penalty misses in many ways were not a surprise. His second miss, in the penalty shoot-out, skying his shot way over the bar, was dreadful, an utter embarrassment. For me, the need to get in a convincing, proven big goal scorer is vital. We need a brute up front – another Akinfenwa or Hanson (a fit version!) – or a physically big forward who can muscle his way round with some speed as well to excite us fans and give us some belief that we do have a source of goals. If we don’t get another big striker in, I fear we’re going to be desperately short in the goals scored column yet again, which could well be fatal given our leaky defence at the moment.

Scott Wagstaff yet again blew hot and cold. A good first 15 minutes, boosted by a goal, was followed by his near disappearance from the game. If he could keep his energy and fight up for the whole game, he’d be a vital cog in our midfield machine. But that machine is just not firing at the moment. Callum Reilly raced around a lot and broke up play here and there. Hartigan had his moments. But again, it was all somewhat unconvincing.

I’ve not got the time to go through every player in detail. The overall impression at full time was that this is a team that lacks characters and leaders, and leaves you just feeling flat throughout the ninety minutes. It’s hard to see where the hope and excitement lies in the squad. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s non-existent. Wally has a big job on his hands to inject some passion into a bunch of players that really are quite average and I fear are going to struggle to set the League or us fans on fire this season. I just hope I’m wrong and these early season setbacks are just that.

[onyadon]

A win-less start to the season, a bit of disconcertion about, (premature after two games) concerns of another relegation dogfight. The Dons need a win to lift spirits but the visit of Accrington Stanley may not be opportune. We have a scratchy record against Accy (much like us, few fans, not much money, dogged, grounded expectations) and we’ve won only three of our 14 games against them in the league. Mind you, the Dons have not lost against Accy in our last five home games… Complicating matters are injuries to team leaders Will Nightingale and Anthony Wordworth. Both are keenly missed and are not expected back this weekend. Wimbledon had their moments and periods of ascendancy in the losses against better resourced teams, Rotherham and Fleetwood, and Wally Downes will be looking for a tighter rearguard, more focus and a bit more in front of goal. Therein lies the problem. The Dons have scored a goal in each loss but conceded twice both times. There is a sinking feeling that the Dons do not have enough goals in them with the players in the squad and even though there are a couple of more weeks left in the League One transfer window, money is tight to bring in another attacker, unless a player is moved on for a fee (and takes some much-needed money off the wage bill). It is a tricky time for Wally. He has to work with what he’s got and the games get no easier: there is a back-to-back road trip coming up this week against promotion fancies Sunderland and Ipswich Town. We hope for something out of Accy, but we may also have to tighten our seat belts in the meantime.

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