And a second report for you, courtesy of Dan…
This is my first report for SW19 and indeed only my second game of the season, which may render my comments worthless to some, but here goes.
Men about town 1 – 0 Village People
Yes they got a penalty, yes they hit the post, yes the referee did his best to help, but surely anything other than a Dons victory last night would have been a travesty. The team looked strong, quick and in command right from the start, with good passing moves and strong tackling and a confidence which is either very good news or very bad news for the rest of the season.
The ground was the sort of place I think probably a lot of Dons fans would love to be playing in every week and this contributed to the fantastically vocal support for the Dons.
With the game only a couple of minutes old, the franchise reject in goal for them paid some of his penance by seeming to gift the Dons the lead with a laughable attempt at a save.
Clearly this upset the ref in some way as he spent the rest of the game trying to ensure that the mistake didn’t cost R&D the points.
As far as the rest of the game goes I am going to sum it up like this, the Dons were the better side throughout, simple.
I am going to finish now, and if I am allowed then I may resurface after the next game I get to, so see you next year!
Plus points: the result, the away support, the ground
Minus points: the ref, the journey home
The referees a: We all know what the referee is!
Them: Looked a good team, but we looked better. How I wish we could transplant their ground to Kingsmeadow (or better still the greyhound stadium)
Point to ponder:
1) I wonder if what our fans (or at least a large section of them) really miss more than anything else is an atmosphere. As soon as the crowd realised that the acoustics were really good the singing started and really didn’t stop all night. Would we have sung like that in an open away end?
2) Are we seeing the first genuinely good AFC side? I know the CCL winning team was good, I know the RP promotion side was good, and I know the BSS side was very good, but I think this could be the first team that produces really great memories. We will all treasure some of the CCL moments but in ten years time I think this could be the side we still talk about.
Anything else: Wish I could make more games
In a nutshell: Great result, great atmosphere