… we might still be going to Shrewsbury next season.
For the next couple of days, we can allow ourselves a little bit of a self-satisfied glow after Off to Wombley 1 Off to Benidorm 0.
Obviously, the hard work starts on Monday, and that applies to off the pitch as well as on it.
Tickets to be bought, travel arrangements to be made, overpriced merchandise to be purchased (and wasn’t the club quick in getting that out soon afterwards?).
Sometimes, I think it’s the supporters who should be walking up the Wembley steps instead.
Before I go on – this is an attempt at a “proper” SW19 report, because things got a little, well, interesting for me yesterday.
I’m having some difficulty typing at the moment due to some flare-up in my joint I had a couple of days ago that affected my right wrist.
Insert joke here.
To cut an exceptionally long story short – I bought my ticket, got to the ground but couldn’t find a car parking space.
The guy who’s agency I’ve worked for since 2011 was covering our game instead, so I wasn’t on press duties.
Except that an hour before kickoff, he ended up with a bad stomach ache and needed me to fill in.
So, back to SW19 Towers, then had to bung my car at Wimbledon Quarter to get a cab to the ground (£13, in case you’ve ever wondered).
Not being able to resell my ticket at literally 15 minutes before kickoff – I wish there was a tout outside the main entrance for once – and I’m now £25 down.
Oh, and then piss balling about on the gantry overspill until finally working out what was happening.
And while all that was going on, missing Ninetowns scoring…
Although it did manage to take my mind off the buildup, which seemed to be dragging a bit.
So I didn’t write too many notes, and I’m having to do most of this off memory instead. If somebody made a funny comment, it will be lost to time forever.
To be fair, I’m not going to say that that I knew we were home and dry after we scored first, because County tried to make their way back into it.
I am glad we got in at 1-0 for the interval, although I don’t think we were under severe pressure anyway.
If anyone was likely to score the next goal, it was us. Alex “I should have signed for AFCW” Bass pulled off a terrific one-handed save from Stevens which I thought was in (and no doubt Stevens thought so too).
Scoring another wasn’t massively important in the end, and to be honest I’d rather save our surplus goals for Monday week.
The defence was superb as usual, and we’re finding that out at the time we need it.
As last week, the post-game reaction was as telling as the 90 minutes beforehand. Nobody went onto the pitch (well, not entirely true, and they can enjoy their banning order), unlike some other fans this week.
I notice Sunderland and Leyton Orient didn’t do so either (did Sheffield United?), though in the Mackems case I would have understood if they did.
The demeanour of the players was mostly quite calm, Owen Goodman excepted, and that’s a good thing.
It was also quite notable waiting around for the post-game press conferences, with some of them on the field with a bottle of beer, looking like they were winding down before knowing the next nine days are sheer graft.
Should Walsall beat us, it won’t be because the giddyometer got to us.
JJ was a bit more emotional on the full time whistle, probably realising he’s got to Wembley for the first time as either a manager or player.
I think he can afford himself an extra day of reflection himself, because the game is on Monday week and not next Saturday.
As we can too. It won’t hurt just to decompress for a day or two. I’m sure having a week inbetween the first leg and yesterday was a massive help.
After all, trips to Wembley are what it’s all about, but of course the focus must be on leaving there as winners.
We’re not done yet, but I suspect we all know that.
There should be a pre-SW19 update next weekend, issues elsewhere notwithstanding, so you’ve been warned.
But even knowing the stakes on Monday week, this is what you support a football club for…
Plus points: We won. Clean sheet. Going to Wembley. Nobody played badly. Defence snuffed out County. Looking for the second goal.
Minus points: Should have scored more. Realising it’s only the semi-final.
The referee’s a…: Honestly didn’t notice anything he did, said or thought. I think that’s a good thing.
Them: Whether our goal killed them, I don’t know, but I expected a bit more from County.
They had some play in our half, but they were so blunt they almost looked like us at too many times this season. Or last.
I believed that last week was their best chance of beating us, they failed to take it and yesterday didn’t prove me wrong.
Yeah, they had their two best players missing, but they’re not the first team to suffer that in the playoffs and they won’t be the last.
Especially as one of their absentees was missing because he was a colossal dick.
Decent turnout from them, to be fair, and I did find “We’re going to Shrewsbury” funny. Let’s just make sure we won’t be doing likewise…
Point to ponder: Is it really all about timing now?
I noticed yesterday how we seemed to grow in confidence, and even looked menacing when we were attacking in the second half.
In the second leg of a playoff semi final, that’s a good place to be in.
When we went up at Eastlands, it’s easy to forget we gubbed Fleetwood at KM, and in 2016 we were playing well enough at the time to claw back against t’Stanley.
Now, as then, we seem to be getting better as the games progress.
And really, that’s where you want to be for this last game of enormous magnitude. Quietly confident that you know you’re on the right track.
It wasn’t so long ago that the AFCW who faced Chesterfield and Gillingham and Port Vale looked weak, meek and lucky to be in the playoffs.
We look so much different now, and whether it’s because we’ve got a fit Jake Reeves I don’t know.
But I’m glad we’re playing like we have been for the past three games, and not the three games before Grimsby.
Walsall will be a crap shoot, and it all depends who turns up on the day. It’s a playoff final, and that’s always the case.
I don’t doubt we’ll be mindful of that on the training ground and the buildup, but we can allow ourself just a smidgen of belief…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) The buzz of seeing the “AFC Wimbledon v Walsall” graphic on Sky Sports News. 2) Taking balloons off kids and bursting them is a bit cuntish. Especially if they’re in the concourse. 3) People cheering the Palace keeper saving a penalty. Not the first time a south London club has kept out a dodgy spot kick in an FA Cup final.
Anything else? As you can see from the picture at the top, your editor was on the infamous third floor of the west stand.
It’s actually quite a good view, the seat I was in was very comfortable, and my “boss” commented that it’s a fair bit like Brentford’s new gaff.
In a good way.
When you mention “third floor” in some Womble circles, there seems to be an exorcism taking place, with squinting eyes, excessive saliva and barely decipherable grunts of “white elephant”.
I’ll say this – mistakes were made when we were building Plough Lane, some quite big ones at that.
But the third floor of the west stand wasn’t one of them.
Why? I’ve said it before on here, and will say it again – it was the club doing a rare bit of future proofing.
We had the chance to put an extra tier on, at far less cost than adding it later, and we did exactly that.
Right now, it’s there for somebody to do something with. And that’s better than not having it to begin with but needing to add it.
Your editor had a very quick look up there, and anyone with a bit of marketing nous would be licking their lips at having that space to play with.
What, I don’t know, but I’m not in that line of work. Some of our fans have had some decent sounding ideas for it, yet they never seem to get past the initial planning stage.
But off the field, that seems par for the course at AFCW. That education hub idea seems to have died the death, and that would have been a good use.
This club is slowly getting better at marketing, but it still feels like planning is done by part-timers who are fitting it in during their spare time.
The need to continually up our game is paramount (especially as some can’t seem to bring themselves to consider 50+1). And if we’re successful next Monday, doubly so.
We’re getting more right these days, the ticket app seemed to work pretty well mostly (your editor can’t seem to register for the app, although I haven’t really tried using it).
But don’t confuse not doing something well with not needing to do it at all…
So, was it worth it? It will be if we win Monday week.
In a nutshell: Whatever will be will be, indeed.