The Lounge

[Colum]

Decisions! Decisions! They cost us proud. Unfortunately last night’s game will be remembered by decisions by those we have little control over. The performance of the referee is what everyone will be talking about, including Scunthorpe fans, but as most of the important decisions went against us, we’ll feel most hard done by.
Once again it had all started so well. We took the game to Scunthorpe, and for 15-20 minutes had chances to score. Good work through the centre led to Barcham crossing from the left. His cross deceived everyone, hit the crossbar and eventually went out off a defender. For the resulting corner, the ball fell to Robinson whose snap shot was cleared off the line.
Scunthorpe seemed content to contain and hit us on the break. They did so fairly effectively a couple of times. Their best chance came with a move down our right, that eventually landed centrally on the edge of the penalty area. A fierce shot came in through a body of players, but Clarke got down well the parry away.
Clarke had a good game in fact, putting Saturday’s mistake behind him. To be fair he didn’t have a huge amount to do, but he did what he had to do well. His kicking still needs a little work, but to criticise that last night would be harsh. Both sides struggled a little with direction, caused by a strong swirling wind.
Then suddenly a bit of quality. Another break down the right, a good cross to the far post, and a quality header back across Clarke. Thank you. 1-0.
Suddenly Sunthorpe well everywhere. Their movement and ability to find space was depressing. How we didn’t concede another in the next 20 minutes is due to quality defending, and just a stroke or two of luck. Shots peppered in, bodies were thrown on the line, and then enter the referee.
A long ball over the top saw Darius Charles get the wrong side of Hopper, as as he reached the box Hopper fell over. The fact he had been doing this every time Charles or Robinson had been even breathing down his neck for the previous 40 minutes, didn’t exactly endear him to the Dons fans. Darius pleaded with the referee to no avail. 2-0 and you’d have said game over.
The Dons reacted well, but things were exasapated late on in the second half when from a corner Barnett was taken out from behind. A clear cut penalty, even from where I was standing 100 yards away. Play was waved on. We simply could not believe what we were seeing. Surely the referee’s performance couldn’t get any worse?
If Neil Ardley has learnt anything during his time here, it is when to make bold decisions. So the second half saw Barnett and Elliott come in in a 4-4-3 formation. It was boom or bust time.
The next 45 minutes was breaktaking, with Elliott having the game of his life. He was awesome. Scunthorpe simply did not know how to play him. He created chances for others, nearly scored himself three times, and won free kicks in good areas. If you could win MOTD on just one half, he’d have been an obvious choice.
It was his header that crashed off the crossbar, only to fall to Darius Charles who smashed it home with glee. Game on, and what a different game it now was. Waves of Dons attacks came down both sides. Shots and more shots were blocked, parried, and cleared. It was a complete reverse of the previous 45 minutes. Scunthorpe showed their class by repelling everything, just.
Five minutes of injury time went up, as did a roar from the home crowd. Two really good penalty shouts in that five minutes alone. First a blatent handball, although the referee was in a bad position to see it, and Domonic Poleon who had come on as a sub was taken out off the ball. You get those nights when nothing goes your way.
The crowd appauded the players and management off the pitch, and reserved their most forthright opinions for the referee. Yet again, we were unlucky. We had done more than held our own, but had come up short. But, and it is a big but, the manner of the performance was encouraging. I still say that I’d have taken one point from our first three league games, so we’re not far off that target. We just need to start picking up points.

[Windlesham Don]

Lovely piece Colum, really giving those who could make the match a sense of how it felt to be there!

I agree that Elliott was superb, it is just frustrating that he is such a curate’s egg of a player! Even amongst his awesomeness last night, he was the one who missed the easiest opportunity to score, sending a near post bullet header wide with the goal gaping…

Sadly, however good he is (and on his good days he is very good) I doubt he will ever be a prolific or consistent goalscorer…

[onyadon]

WDSA in the Scunthorpe match programme …

Thank you @AFCWimbledon in so many more ways than one ….. @WDownunder pic.twitter.com/0qTx6u0ihF
— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) August 17, 2016

[onyadon]

Ken Newman writes — After the loss against Bolton things did not look rosy. We had played really well for the first 25 minutes when Barcham hit home a cracker to give us the lead. After that things went downhill. A goalmouth scramble saw the ball go through a forest of legs and Clarke, who was unsighted from the original shot, had it pass beneath him as he dived. The defence gradually lost their grip on the game and it was no surprise when Bolton’s winner went in to give them their first away win for sixteen months. The refereeing was not the best with elbows frequently used by the Bolton forwards who were only penalised for it on one occasion and a booking when we were about to take a throw in was incomprehensible to all supporters! The game plan was reminiscent of those I saw earlyf last season, with lofted goal kicks the main source of attack. Very few decent balls at ground level managed to get through to Elliot and Taylor. The positive for the team was the effort they put in throughout the game. Barry Fuller was my Man of the Match: great fast runs down the wing with good crosses at the end. Despite losing out on height he always seems to beat taller opposition.
The Scunthorpe game was action throughout: the Dons hit the post before getting the ball in the net- only for the goal to be ruled offside despite an opposition member playing it onside. Mistakes are more costly in this league and a failure to cut out a cross and poor marking led to us being one down. The opposition’s slick one touch passing coupled with accurate shooting as soon as they were in the box showed what is expected in this league- particularly from promotion hopefuls like Scunthorpe who just missed out on the play-offs last season. Clarke made a great diving save from a shot that looked goal bound all the way until his fingertips pushed it round the post. Sharon Armfield, one of the many volunteers, assured me that the penalty awarded at the far end, was really soft and typical of the one sided decisions that seemed to come from this ref during the first half. Virtually all free kicks went to Scunthorpe: Refereeing was much worse than the Bolton game: A good Dons penalty claim was ignored; We got booked for a high tackle when a Scunthorpe boot was the same height; etc. And so we went in 2-0 down at the break – and to be honest it probably should have been more..
Ardley does have a plan B(!): the formation was changed from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 with Tom Elliott and Dean Parrett being brought on at half time. The whole complexion of the game changed and the Dons had them on the back foot virtually the whole half. Again we hit the woodwork and then after many goalmouth melees the above mentioned players combined to pull a goal back. The ref seemed not to realise that the teams had changed ends with Wimbledon getting the majority of the free kicks that we had been denied in the first half – though a blatant penalty claim by AFCW was turned down. There were so many goalmouth skirmishes, but the Dons just couldn’t get the goal their efforts deserved. Scunthorpe missed a great opportunity at the end of the game when two players had only Clarke to beat- but the ball sailed over the crossbar from only a few yards out. After the game both Managers expressed dissatisfaction with the refereeing standard.
So AFC Wimbledon are bottom of League one but the signs are good: I like the way Clarke communicates with his defence and has confidence in collecting crosses: the defence improved over the Bolton game; the 100% effort throughout the game; the number of shots on goal; NA’s willingness to change the system. We’ll play worse than this and win. We possibly need a class mid-field player but generally I think we’ve the quality to survive in this league.
Sadly no more games before I return to Oz.

[Devon Womble]

Would just like to thank those at the game for their excellent reports. Despite outward appearances, it would seem that we are better than some of us would believe.
I have a question though….
With such blatant evidence against the pillock with the whistle last night, is there not some kind of ‘Yellow/Red’ card for refs too?
Last night’s decisions cost us the game so surely there must be a very good case for him to be disciplined? So I am asking what action, if any, could the club take?

[Cape Cod Womble]

Hey Rob :

Can you get a transcript of the programme article?

And in Danish football news, I was one of twenty fans when Esbjerg travelled three hours each way on Monday night to Aalborg in North Jutland. We felt very well looked after and were never in any danger as there were twelve security staff looking after us!

That makes it an AFCW type start for Esbjerg under England legend, Colin Todd. Five league starts for four losses and a draw but a win in the Cup to the unfortunately named Middelfart.

I have dragged along an Aussie flag to each game to hopefully bring good luck to our Socceroos striker Brent McGrath who is yet to disturb the netting so far.

[Author]

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