The Lounge

[liamwimbo]

Three games played and only one point on the board. I’ve been to both home games and it’s hard to find many positives. We could have nicked a point against Rotherham but poor defending late on let us down.
Against Accrington Stanley, a draw was a fair result. The most disappointing aspect of that game was looking second best against ten men for the last 30 minutes.
The post mortems after that game focused on two points. Lumping the ball up to The Pig and Folovi doesn’t work. And more worryingly, this squad does not have the quality to stay in League One.
Kalambayi got MotM which was fair enough but my choice would have been Folovi.
Possibly the most depressing thing was buying my ticket for Ipswich away immediately after the game – at 27 quid a pop!
As the Wiz always said, let’s see where we are after 10 games before getting too depressed 🤞

[Colum]

I can’t argue a lot with what others have said, except that Foliva should have fot MOTM. His tireless running and harassing caused Accy untold problems. It even called from some pretty industrial defending from their No.5. How Folivi didn’t win a single free kick in 90 minutes is astounding.

Elsewhere the positives were that we took the lead, had their best player sent off, and… well that’s it! Wally’s substitutions were weird to say the least. Pigott looked helpless all game and should have been replaced. Also to bring on three midfielders when we should have been bringing goalscorers on was baffling.

The negatives, and believe me there were plenty, were surrendering a lead to a car crash of a goal, not having any leaders on the pitch, and not having any clue about tactics and how to win a game. If your manager has told you to get the ball wide and deliver balls into the box, you don’t continually lump 40 yard balls up to their 6′ 3″ centre half.

We need Nightingale and Wordsworth back ASAP. Without them our team is spineless and destined for League Two.

[Windlesham Don]

It looks increasingly like Bury and possibly Bolton will not complete the season. It would be great news for us, only needing to find two teams worse than us – there are a few candidates. Bury look doomed and Bolton’s unilateral postponement of tonight’s match doesn’t bode well for them – it must result in another three point penalty surely?
Expecting nothing tonight unless Appiah and Folivi strike up an unlikely goalscoring strike force. I can’t see us keeping a clean sheet.
Still, where there is life there’s hope…
COYD!!

[Singapore Don]

The morning after the night before, and it feels no better. That 95th minute defeat at Ipswich really was a kick in the proverbial, after what had been 80 minutes of probably our best football this season. We controlled the first half, playing some really decent football, passing it quickly and sharply, small triangle passages of play, closing down opponents quickly and almost aggressively, harrying and pressing….it was a delight to watch. Something seemed to have clicked and we were watching a Wimbledon team playing with passion, conviction and skill.

Like many, I presumed it would be a different story in the second half after the Tractor Boys’ manager half time rocketing – but we were treated to more of the same. Amidst the cacophony of 667 passionate Dons fans in full voice, Wimbledon were in full throttle, battling and probing, digging deep but getting on the front foot too.

Then it all unravelled in a last ten minutes of Ipswich stepping up a gear and putting us to the sword in lethal determination. The first goal came from a corner that was originally a throw-in, then called back to be a corner after the referee judged the ball to have crossed the line by what, one millimetre? However maddened we were by this pernickety and seemingly wrong decision, the defending of the corner was woeful and punished in ruthless fashion. So ten minutes to hold out for that vital point. And defend we did, resolutely while clearly becoming more and more tired and worried. And then the sucker punch was delivered, the result again of hapless defending when MacDonald failed to clear a ball threaded through the middle allowing the Ipswich attacked to slot home. The celebrations by the Ipswich fans would make you believe they’d just won the league or Cup, such was their relief knowing they had got away with one.

I still feel as gutted and flat as I did at the final whistle last night, but I’m trying not to get totally deflated. For 80 minutes, we played really well and with confidence. Clearly we have an issue with seeing games out, another 1-2 defeat scoreline suffered from a winning position. It must be physical and mental fatigue, problems Wally has to address before this becomes a nasty habit. He also has to convince the board just how desperately we need a big target man and proven goal-scorer to give us those vital second goals each game to stop us losing 1-2.

It’s such a shame, because every one of the starting eleven last night did themselves credit with gutsy performances, led by back-in-favour stand-in Captain Wagstaff. I’d start again with Folivi and Appiah up front (Pigott was as ineffectual as ever this season when he came on towards the end), Folivi increasingly convincing me that he could be our player of the season (that’s my prediction for this one!). The players just have to remember their 80 minutes of holding off and indeed leading against many pundits’ promotion certainties, and take to the field in Sunderland believing they can do that for the full 90 minutes. Heads are down, last night was gutting, the season is going to be a long, hard struggle, but we shouldn’t be downhearted.

Come on you Dons!

PS. Great to see you last night Liam – what an atmosphere! It was so close to being my start of game prediction of 1-1! At least we didn’t get hammered 0-4 as some thought!! See you at the Wycombe game…

[liamwimbo]

Still feeling gutted after the defeat on Tuesday night. Over the 90 minutes, we probably didn’t deserve to win but we certainly deserved a point. Even an Ipswich fan told me we were unlucky after the game.
For the first 60 minutes, we out-fought the opposition and kept them to only one chance. They dominated the last 30 minutes so the equaliser wasn’t a big surprise.
But to lose with virtually the last kick of the game was hugely deflating.
The journey back to London wasn’t much fun after that.
Peter, looking forward to seeing you at Wycombe.

[onyadon]

Still win-less after four league games and it gets no easier with a long trip to promotion hopefuls Sunderland. There has been much lamenting about the 95th-minute goal that sunk the Dons at Ipswich Town in mid-week after leading 1-0 with nine minutes of regulation time left. The Dons are having trouble protecting leads so far this season — they’ve led in three of the four games and have only one point to show for it. The likely return of skipper Will Nightingale after missing the last three games is key to the Dons chances of getting back amongst the points. Will’s leadership, drive and fight is clearly missing within the team and hopefully he will instil some steel in the rearguard and have an overall galvanising effect on the team. Anthony Wordsworth is another player keenly missed and hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back. With these two again available in the side I expect an overall improvement. Looking at it glass half-full: the Dons have led Fleetwood Town, Accrington and Ipswich Town, all in their own way tough opposition, but haven’t been able to see it out. Certainly, it’s not ideal, but the team is knocking on the door. Wally and Glyn just now need to get some solid consistency from the team, again prove hard to beat, and a focus to hang on for points right to the final whistle. The other burning issue is a lack of firepower up front. Four games four goals with fans clamouring for Wally to bring in a new number nine. That looks very unlikely from what I’m hearing about the budget. There is nothing left with the transfer window to close on Monday September 2. If that proves to be the case then Wally will have to rely on Pigott, Folivi, Appiah and Roscrow to lead the attack. Wimbledon have had a chronic inability to score goals in League One, it looks like that will again be the case this season. It will be how the management and coaching staff can squeeze the best out of what we have. It’s four games in, give it a bit more time but don’t expect it to change at Sunderland.

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