The Dons Song

12/15/2024 05:55 AM

The tune that gave this very place its title remains better than We Are Wimbledon. This is non-negotiable.

I have to admit, there was something immensely pleasing about Dons 1 Dons 0 yesterday, a vibe that has managed to last beyond the usual night’s sleep.

It’s not just the result, especially against a team who were third at kickoff, nor even us going top four as a consequence.

It’s because it feels like a Good Win.

Beating Harrogate last week was nice, and it should have been the second home victory in a row. Yes, I’m still annoyed by it.

Yesterday though was us matching one of the better sides in the division, and for once getting the decisive goal after a mistake.

And you know what? I think we were deserved victors as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we came away with a point or less, and towards the end I was semi-expecting it.

But on cool reflection – maybe these are the first signs of a good campaign after all.

Cast your minds back to when we got promoted out of the Conference South, and it was around this time of year when it started to click.

That was in the 2008/09 season, if you want to feel old by the way.

As for today in 2024, there’s obviously big differences. We’re battling with six players injured after a horrific grind of results, for starters.

So much so that Sam Hutchinson was not only signed for a month as well as Romaine Sawyers, but came straight into the team.

More on him later, but you have to admit that getting booked after seven minutes of your home debut should earn a new deal immediately.

Donny came close, a bit too close in truth, and we can find ourselves a bit lucky that they were as good in front of goal as us for too often.

We weren’t bad, far from it, but they were good enough to get that one chance and win the game.

Which is probably the most pleasing aspect of the whole tie. For once, it was us capitalising on the mistake, and with no little bit of skill (Kelly’s cross, Stevens’ finish) we earned that goal that proved the winner.

Like most northern teams, they tried to bully us a bit. But we’ve since discovered we can be mouthy Cockney bastards, and we basically told them to fuck off up the M1 again.

I much prefer this version of us, rather than the poundshop version of a Quaker.

This was one of those games where had we got the second, you couldn’t say we wouldn’t deserve it.

Needless to say, we didn’t get it, although that wasn’t for the lack of trying. Hell, when their keeper scooped it off the line you just had visions of them going up our end, the inevitable Goodman clanger, and we’d be looking at a point at most.

Yet I’m still trying to think if Donny came that close to equalising. Sure, they had a couple of corners, and you can never be sure with our lot.

If they had gone one-on-one at some point they would have probably missed. Although I’m glad we never tested that theory.

In fact, I’ll state the best thing about yesterday. When it got to injury time, which I doubt was as short as three minutes, we just knew how to run the clock down.

Getting the ball, keeping it at our end of the pitch, Doncaster very quickly looking like they’d run out of ideas.

Not to mention Smith and Bugiel firing up the crowd before the game was over. Confidence? Possibly. Bravado? Almost certainly.

But it worked.

This wasn’t a fluke result, even if we did have a bit of good fortune for their goal (though we still have to create the cross and head it in).

We dealt with it like, well, a side in the playoff hunt. I would have liked more goals, we all would, but this wasn’t a clinging-on victory.

If nothing else, and providing the bean counters don’t force us to sell at least Stevens next month, it proves that we’re capable of doing something this campaign.

We’re not the finished article by any means, of course. We still can’t score that decisive second goal when playing well, and there’s always a sense that we’ll drop an absolute doozy at some point.

Yes, it’s only one game. But if people are feeling just a little bit giddy this weekend, you might have to forgive them.

Besides – we now have a whole week to admire yesterday’s handiwork. We haven’t been able to do that for about a month.

Anyway…

Plus points: We won. Clean sheet. Stevens and Kelly combining. Hutchinson. Matching a very good side. Winning a game at Plough Lane again. Coming off the back of about a zillion games in the last month.

Minus points: Should have scored more. One or two defensive “moments”.

The referee’s a…: It’s a good job we won, as some of the decisions made were a little bit, er, eccentric.

Letting a lot go until he decided that somebody farting was a cautionable offence. Then back to the laissez-faire attitude when the wind changed direction.

Oh, and somehow managed to miss their keeper handling outside the area. Not that it mattered, but if it did…

Them: I can see why they were high up before the game, and despite recent form I won’t be entirely surprised if they’re in L1 again next season.

That said, their ability to put the ball in the back of the net managed to thankfully desert them yesterday, and that might have played a part in our win.

Their manager reckons they were below par, and it’s always great when opposition bosses say that. It proves what a decent job we did.

After all, how many times have we played a team playing shit yet still managed to be even shittier?

Decent turnout by their fans, although they didn’t appear to be the loudest. Though is it true they were giving it pro-Franchise stuff?

If they were, I’m glad they don’t seem to like coming to this part of London. Only one win at either end of Plough Lane, apparently, and they weren’t doubling that statistic.

Oh, and here’s a stat for any future pub quiz question. Not only were Donny the first competitive fixture opponents at PL v2, they were also the same at the Amex.

Point to ponder: Could Sam Hutchinson prove to be a masterstroke signing?

He seemed to know what to do, put in some balls to Kelly and only went off because he hasn’t played ninety minutes in ages.

While Sawyers might be the proverbial (if not literal) body on the bench, Hutchinson already looks part of the starting eleven.

I haven’t seen his pre-match interview, but he’s got a huge thumbs up from those who watched it.

At 35, he’s not going to get too many more offers, and if it works out for the finances he wouldn’t be the worst gamble.

He’s obviously slow at times, and no doubt he’ll miss some of this month because he’ll get sent off.

You can see him doing a lunge late in the game at Chesterfield next week, which leads to him missing all of Xmas.

Still, he made an excellent first impression. These sort of semi-marquee signings can be hit and miss (Chris Gunter, anyone?)

It does help when they really can go straight into a squad, which is always the problem with free agents.

And you can’t deny that he seemed to enjoy yesterday…

Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) A fair number of those electronic perimeter ads stacked at the back of the south stand. Are they new? Spares? 2) Sure there was less traffic than normal going home. Also, worth remembering how dire it usually was getting out of KM, with half the crowds of today.

Anything else? When a team moves into (or in our case, back to) a new gaff, there’s often complaints that they lack identity.

I don’t know how long they’ve been up, but yesterday I noticed there’s now banners on the lamp-posts surrounding PL.

And I have to say, they’re only minor things but it does make you feel you’re in “our” area.

You often see them around other stadia across the country, more often than not with highly contrived poses for the camera by current players.

It’s weird that things like that can make a difference. Ditto when you look at the bus shelter opposite the south stand and it’s got AFCW as a local point of interest.

I expect that’s been there for a good while, but like the banners they’re little identity markers that once you notice you don’t forget.

I mention this because whilst walking to the ground yesterday (usual route from Weir Road past the back of the old away end), I thought how hidden away the ground is from sight.

Most if not all of us reading this will know exactly where our place is, but to the uninitiated it’s quite easy to forget there’s a 9k stadium in the new flats.

It’s probably inconsequential, but then you remember that people make a big deal at other new stadia about having such identifying marks.

The Emirates is a classic example of that, and just about every new project you’ll see now incorporates things that make them look less like a warehouse.

If we’re being honest, it took a good while for Plough Lane (new) to be “lived in”. I think we’re there now, although there’s always improvements to be made.

It’s certainly doing the other job it was meant to do – the amount of the proverbial dads with lads is a very good sign.

And maybe more identifiers that you’re in the vicinity of our ground will stick in the sub-conscious of a curious passer-by, who decides to delve further into the club he’s just walked past.

Yes, that does happen. Ask your editor…

So, was it worth it? Oh, absolutely.

In a nutshell: Can we get three wins in a row?