No, it still hasn’t worn off yet. This is good.
I’m sure there are many who didn’t sleep a wink last night as they’re still having to peel themselves off the ceiling.
Judging by some of the social media posts, this applies to the players and staff as much as anyone.
It’s quite amusing seeing Johnnie Jackson getting lauded left, right and centre. Especially from some of the same people who wanted him out after Doncaster last season.
He was being lined up last week to have his arse kicked by those who have taken a dislike to him for no real reason, so he can enjoy this weekend.
Clearly being the first Wimbledon manager to mastermind a victory over them since Ardley took an emotional reaction.
Walter couldn’t do that. Nor did Hodges or Mark Robinson. Although Mark Bowen came closer than anyone, lest we forget.
But then, the reaction after Ronan “Franchise Slayer” Curtis shows that this lot care. That’s all we’ve asked all along.
It helps if you’re semi-decent too, which we seem to be.
I’ve only really looked at the winning goal, although I did see the Franchise sitter that they somehow (and thankfully) missed.
Imagine the mood this morning if that had gone in. It was too tight to watch without wincing, but perhaps the Football Gods were on our side yesterday?
It’s only one game, but if you don’t know what it means to beat Milton Keynes Dons, you don’t have a soul.
Or a pulse.
AFC Wimbledon exists because they exist. If they didn’t, we would still be Wimbledon FC and maybe (ironically) in the same place as we are today. In both senses of the word too.
I know that many if not most of them weren’t even a piece of spunk in their dad’s gonads when 28/5 happened.
Apparently, they were keen to give it the big one behind the big police escort** yet were somehow less cocky when they were directed around behind the south stand.
** – not the usual ones who do our games, but the coppers who do some of the needle games at Chelsea and Arsenal.
Some were reportedly looking for trouble, but they were only in tow because they were playing us.
Franchise fans are liars at the best of times, but don’t believe any of them when they say this doesn’t actually matter to them, and their real rivals are Luton.
Us beating them will hurt them big time, and they know it.
While Curtis was ruining their weekend yesterday, your editor was buying a paper. In it, there was a brief preview of our game, and these were quotes from their defender Cameron Norman:
“You can’t really get away from it when this game rolls around – we know it’s a big one for the fans.
“It’s big for us to make sure we put out a statement and give them all a good weekend.
“We’ve got so much that we’re playing for and the boys are hungry for more and going to be right up for it.
“But it gives you an extra ten percent that the people there don’t want you to do well. The boys react well to that, we’re really excited.”
Franchise put the effort in against us because they think we should go back in our box and accept the lie that they “saved” WFC.
You just have to look at their reaction when we scored to prove that this game means as much to them as it does to us.
It’s a rivalry, despite how some of our fans try to convince themselves otherwise, and I think that’s what makes this so good.
We’ve had 90nth winners before this season, but this one surpasses every single one of those because it was against Franchise.
We’ve never had a “proper” hatred up until about 2002, and it took a decade for us to actually play them.
Arguably, it’s taken a decade more to learn how to handle them, and it’s clear that facing the whole thing head on is the best approach in future.
As Norman said above, Franchise are up for it. We should be too.
And we need to stop being a bunch of cowardly pussies when we play them. What if we play them in a playoff semi-final or, Satan forbid, final?
Believe it or not, that could be a possibility this season.
Judging by the reaction of non-AFCW affiliated supporters, this was a well received win and people understand why we reacted the way we did (and still are).
As somebody elsewhere put it after the final whistle – you don’t realise how deep the feeling are until something like this happens…
It’s a shame that we’ve got another game Tuesday, and one which could be a legitimate banana skin.
While yesterday released a lot of pent up aggression and angst, it is but one game.
We have put ourselves back in the pack chasing a playoff spot, and to be doing that in the month that ends in Easter is a credit to all.
Playing Grimsby might arguably be bigger than yesterday, because it is a must-win game against a team we don’t have nearly so much bad feeling against**.
** – no doubt I’ll now get a story about somebody who bought dodgy candy floss in Cleethorpes once, and developed a hatred of the Mariners so deep they even support Franchise against them.
I hope we didn’t knacker ourselves out in the celebrations afterwards, and we knuckle down again this morning.
Losing on Tuesday won’t relegate us, but it would flatten the whole thing if we did.
One hopes – and expects – JJ to keep faith with most of the starting XI. Maybe Curtis starting and Kelly being benched may be an option?
I feel sorry for our January recruit from Solihull, because it just hasn’t fallen for him since he got here.
He’s not a donkey, and he simply needs a goal, but the longer he goes without one the harder it becomes for him to get off the mark.
Kelly will get chances between now and the end of the season, because there’s still eleven games left.
While Easter will decide whether we go for the playoffs or just sit there in mid-table, it’s a very nice feeling to have.
And if we do find ourselves extending the season – it will be ironic if it all started with beating Franchise…