And just like the 20th century, the mighty Dons start off with a 1-0 victory – Wombles 1 Wearsiders 0, though the meedja will excuse this loss because a) Kevin Philips wasn’t 100% fit, b) Maggie vilely injured the Mackem before we scored (it was an accidental clash you baby snatchers), c) at least two Mackem goals were wrongly offsided, d) the pitch was shite, e) the weather was shite etc etc.
Ignore the lies though, we played very well, and best of all most of the team are young enough to keep going for a few years yet (average age is surely 23). Debut for Chris Willmott, who looked the Dogs, as did Martin Andresen who made the male support marvel at his skill (and the female support reach for their 9″ strap on vibrators).
Indeed, Dry Martini’s skill was sublime – just imagine Michael Hughes pre-strop and Gareth Ainsworth pre-injury and you’ve got him. His working for our goal was superb, and flies in the face of all our “ugly” style criticisms. Our passing was mostly crisp, and for much of the game the Mackems looked anything but title contenders.
Others of note were Hermann (of course), Trond (of course) and, when required, Sully. Though to be fair, it would be wrong to single out players for playing well. We clearly seemed to have turned the corner, let’s hope we don’t find reverse
Disappointing crowd, I thought, of 17,000. The attendances are slipping back to Plough Lane days………