The Lounge

[liamwimbo]

Very much agree with Windlesham that points from the next two games are vital. I would hope that 4 points is the minimum we need. We need to take advantage of playing at home, especially against Coventry on Tuesday. There are some very tough games coming up and I would like to see the Dons back in the top half of the table before those games.
Some of the players are showing their age and may not be around next season, so safety sooner rather than later will allow Ardley to give the younger players like Nightingale, Beere and Egan game time towards the end of the season.

COYDs.

[Windlesham Don]

An incendiary encounter at Kingsmeadow yesterday, the details of which I am sure will be available from press reports so I will not go through the match facts. However, I do have a few random thoughts/opinions on the day which I would like to share.

On the match, it was always going to be lively – a London derby with the first visit of the ex-Franchise manager – and so it needed a strong and experienced ref. The idiot provided for us was utterly useless and only served to fan the flames of both sets of supporters. A nasty tackle on Jake Reeves should, as a minimum, have produced a yellow and a final warning to the culprit; the horrible cynical professional foul on Lyle Taylor was also borderline red (and would have been a red in the Premier league as Xhaka found out for Arsenal recently with an offence not as bad as Holmes’s for Charlton). The final icing on the cake was a second yellow for Tom Elliott for ‘excessive celebration’, which demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the game.

On our performance, the first half was possibly the worst I have seen for a long while – even worse than Sutton. The early goal (a soft free kick given away by Robertson who was completely off the pace for the first 20 minutes) crushed any confidence we may have had, but in truth we had to start fast and we didn’t, allowing Charlton to boss the early stages. We were lucky to go in only a single goal down.

Ironically the best thing to happen to us in the first half was Bas Fuller sustaining an injury during a final minute goal line clearance. His going off at the interval forced NA to move Francomb out of his ‘little boy lost’ role in central midfield and back to full back, where he looked much more comfortable second half. Barcham coming on added pace and enabled us to switch to 4-4-2 and gradually get back into the game.

[Windlesham Don]

Off the pitch there were several incidents which have taken the headlines.

First was the item thrown by the Charlton fans which hit the linesman on the head. This was completely out of order and should result in serious action – of course it won’t. Second, the Charlton fans also let off some form of firework on their terrace, again out of order…

The banner unfurled by the Wimbledon fans in the Chemflow end was stupid and childish – if you are going to use the ‘c’ word in a banner just use ‘c**t’ and everyone will know the intention, using the actual word was just offensive for everyone, especially fans with young children. I hope whoever perpetrated the banner is caught and issued with a ban.

Finally the altercation with Robinscum (I refuse to use his actual name until he acts in a manner which deserves it) was poor, but probably due to the aforementioned poor refereeing, the last minute equaliser and possibly the attitude of the Charlton manager himself. Whatever was said to Robinscum, he must have expected it and he must have heard worse (I expect the lino in front of the Charlton fans heard worse yesterday), but it was a great way of deflecting blame away from his team chucking away two points and on to us.

NA and the club’s attitude of turning the other cheek and doing the right thing is laudable, but it needs to get out in the media that NA would never have reacted as Robinscum did by blabbing to the press and he also would not have attempted to get in a brawl with the abuser – sadly this shows Robinscum’s complete lack of class and dignity.

Whoever the abuser turns out to be, he needs to be dealt with severely, but sometimes I do wish the club and NA would tell the media the other side of the story…

On to Tuesday, and hopefully yesterday’s encounter, second half performance and last minute equaliser will get the competitive juices flowing, as we need a commanding performance and 3 points to get us back on track.

[Singapore Don]

Thanks for the on and off pitch observations Windlesham – I concur with all you say.

On the pitch, we were as bad as we’ve been all season in the first half. Second half we were much better: Francomb looked much more comfortable at right back, Barcham added width and pace on the left, even Barnett did his job and provided the assist for Tom’s goal. The real disappointment again was Tom Soares who was completely non existent; he looks slow, off the pace, heavy…rather like Whelpdale. I hope he won’t turn out to be a dud signing. As for Tom, his red card was unbelievably harsh and over the top, but I guess not a surprise given the referee was one of the worst I’ve even seen. He was shocking, brandishing his yellow with gay abandon, he clearly saw himself as being the centre of the spotlight. He had no judgement, and certainly showed no discretion. Appalling. I hope the assessor gives him the scathing dressing down he deserves.

Off the pitch, Ia free with Windlesham the Chemflow banner was not becoming our family club. I looked at it from the JG stand with my kids with embarrassment. It’s ammo for the Unspeakable lovers to accuse us of hypocrisy etc. How on earth did it get past the stewards into the ground? As for the Charlton fans, they were throwing things at the lino, setting off a flare in the Rygas amongst themselves – so dangerous – and chanting Robinscum’s name – any soft spot I had for Charlton has gone. As for the former Unspeakables boss, he was pathetic – goading the lino, smirking and smug all match, and clearly our equaliser completely spoiled his cocky superiority. He was arrogance personified, and a comment from a Dons volunteer managed to get through his thin skin – his lashing out was as demeaning and unprofessional as the thin skinned oaf in the White House. Ardley had to say what he said about the incident, but it is sad that it grabbed the headlines – as the vermin Robinscum wanted – rather than our brilliant fightback and added time equaliser.

The experience of just one odious scumster yesterday had tensions running high and resulted in the incidents we know about. It does raise cause for concern about how the game on March 14th is going to go. Yesterday certainly doesn’t bode well for the crunch game. There will need to be serious segregation, away fans perhaps being kept back to allow home fans to disperse, and/or other measures to ensure tensions don’t spill over in to any further and worse headlines to besmirch our great club.

As for matters back on the pitch, Tuesday provides a big test – it’s a great opportunity to get three points and make a big move towards safety. We won’t have Tom, but then with three Tuesday games coming up in a row, it might not be a bad thing for him to have a rest anyway. Hopefully Barnett will seize his opportunity (again!), and Tom Soares will at last show us what he can really do. We could really do with all three points against the bottom of the table team. A defeat would be a major blow for our fragile confidence. Come on you Dons!

[Colum]

I missed yesterday’s game, so I’ve been catching up with events today. The first thing I saw was the banner unfurled in the home end. My first reaction was utter horror at the language used. It should not be allowed, and should be dealt with quickly by the club. That is the sort of language that can get you evicted from the ground, and rightly so. I just hope that something similar is avoided on 14th March.

[MacWomble]

An interesting story to take our attention away from our gradual decline in league position over the last few months. The club is going to have to learn and re-learn that there are supporters who cannot forgive and forget, regardless of Samuelson-type moralizing. Yes, it was all very rude. But they are all very angry. They made their point and I hope that this lets the club realise the match against MK Dons has the potential to blow over. Perhaps this forewarning is a positive outcome of this story. As for the comment by the Volunteer – what on Earth could he have said that broke all of the footballing boundaries, according to Robinson? Surely Robbo must have heard everything before? Yes, of course he has heard it all before. It is just that the last minute equaliser got under his skin and he retaliated like a childish bully. Unless the volunteer really did invent some new form of sledging, I hope he is not treated cruelly by the club, just to make Robinson look half the oaf that he must be. You have to feel sorry for football players sometimes, as they have to put up with meathead managers. Luckily most of them are all as thick as mince, so probably think it is all normal. It’s a bit like the monkeys in the zoo chucking shite at one another, except we pay to watch it. Bring on the next Derby!

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