We came. We saw. We conquered. And we got soaked in the process.
To be fair, that’s not a bad way of describing St Leger Stakes 1 Epsom Derby 2, as it did feel like a classic away performance.
Long trip up to the wastelands of Yorkshire, awful conditions, playing well but not getting the goal we perhaps deserved.
Going off the boil. Going behind. Kicking ourselves. Finally waking up again. Getting goal almost unexpectedly.
Going up a further gear. Late winning strike. And a miraculous double amount of injury time awarded than you expected…
The drive home was a nice one. Funny, that.
But it’s two wins from two, both coming from behind, and both against opponents that in previous years we would have struggled with.
No doubt it was helped by Joe Lewis returning, but apart from a strange ten minute spell where Donny took the lead, we were probably good value for the win.
Would a draw have been the right result? As a neutral, possibly, but I’m not a neutral so they can fuck off.
And besides – we’re AFC Wimbledon. We don’t do draws.
Yesterday wasn’t a smash-and-grab by any means, but if we had scored in the first half then it would have probably been a comfortable victory.
The trouble is, when you do that you’re vulnerable to going behind. Which is exactly what we did.
It was about five minutes into the second half, and as stated earlier it came in an odd period of the game where we forgot we were playing.
This is the difference with League One, even against a team we played last season in League Two – mistakes get punished, doziness gets you in trouble.
We switched off, and it was possibly heading to another Bradford type game.
Except, it didn’t.
You can’t beat a good header from a well-executed corner, and Reeves (literally) delivered for Johnson to direct home.
It looked a good header on the highlights, but it managed to look even better in real time behind the goal.
We deserved it on the balance of the game, even if we did get a bit of help from their keeper flapping at it to earn us the corner.
Oddly enough, we went off the boil just a little bit after we equalised, but equally I didn’t think we were going to lose it.
Granted, you hope there’s a winner for us, but you don’t really expect one.
But Hippo turned up with a lovely turn and strike, helped a bit by the sort of goalie clearance and defensive fuck-up that used to give us nightmares.
And then a very quick previous 82 minutes suddenly became v-e-r-y s-l-o-w.
Not helped by there being six minutes of injury time, of which I’m not quite sure why, but I was expecting more of a bombardment.
Instead, we had a goal disallowed (Orsi’s offside, no defence is terrified), which might have reduced the anxiety.
But it was pleasing how we managed to kill the game off, and how even in those horrible conditions in injury time, we kept chasing and forcing the issue.
You can tell we’re in a good place mentally, as we should be after such a win. I’m sure the trains and buses going back down t’smoke were party central.
Hell, some may have even had a second Babycham.
When I write these reports, I always do the game summary first, then deliberately not read JJ’s post game comments until afterwards, to see if he agrees with what I’ve written.
And to be fair, I can’t disagree with what he said in the pouring south Yorkshire rain.
From his point of view, this is his team that he has built up, alongside Skiverton, Dave Reddington (who goes so much under the radar), and of course Craig Cope (PBUH) and Andy Thorn.
It could have faded so badly after getting promoted, and it may yet still do. But as JJ said – we’re going to enjoy this.
And you might well even enjoy the following…
Plus points: We won. Coming back. General all-round play. Johnson’s goal. Hippo’s winner. Constantly chasing for the entire game.
Minus points: Their goal. No Hackford. The rain.
The referee’s a…: Had a weird habit of giving them everything for about 15 minute spells, then deciding he had had enough and gave us the decisions for a period of time too.
I think he got a bit fed up of Doncaster players deciding to throw themselves to the floor though. I thought Northerners were supposed to be tough?
Them: Apart from the aforementioned diving, one of those teams who are good on their day but are still beatable.
I looked at the league table from before the game and I didn’t realise they were fifth. Mind you, we’ve beaten a couple of the teams above us, so maybe this division is quite wide open?
Where we’ll finish I don’t know, especially when the injuries and loss of form kick in, but I think Doncaster will end up in mid-table.
They had a former player of ours (Toyosi Olusanya), although I forget if he came off the bench. Couldn’t really make out their PA, although I wasn’t really paying much attention as it was.
The last time I went to their stadium, it was in the run-in to last season’s finale and it was a helluva lot more nervous then than it was yesterday.
Their stadium is another out-of-towner, although apparently if you get there early enough you can park for nowt if you’re prepared for a little walk.
Actually, it’s not in bad nick, and this being Yorkshire they sell Yorkshire tea rather than PG Tips.
Oh, and you can buy a chippy tea butty. £8.75 though…
Point to ponder: Are we proving how much we are more than the sum of our parts?
Plenty was made before the season kicked off that we had such a minuscule budget that we would have been relegated by now.
The first couple of games did demonstrate that while we needed to tighten up we weren’t such the pushovers even our own support thought we would be.
I think the players themselves realised that as well, because with the dishonourable exception of Bolton away, we’ve been competitive every time this season so far.
We won’t win every game, in fact I think we’ll lose to both Wycombe and Blackpool (because we always lose at Bloomfield Road).
But you don’t come from behind twice in two games in the manner we have and not have something about you.
We’ve definitely grown in confidence, as we’ve realised League One is definitely a division we can happily exist in.
Yesterday was proof of that. We had a hammerblow going behind, so we just knuckled down some more, got the chance for an equaliser and we took it.
And our reward was three points and a lovely glowing feeling afterwards.
Your editor said to somebody afterwards that it’s a marked difference from the last time we were in the third tier.
We do look a lot more professional on the pitch, especially in comparison to the amateurism we had to endure in 2021/22.
From our point of view, survival in this division was and still remains the top priority. I think we can achieve that.
But I also don’t want it to be a slog of a season too. I want us to have these kind of results, because you forget that football is about enjoyment.
After all, if you can’t enjoy watching Hippo’s strike for the winner, you might need to check if you’re still alive…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) After Bolton, I now check to see whether AFCW is telling people whether tickets are available on the day on their social media feed. Nope… 2) Woman with Walton Casuals (RIP) sticker in her car at Tesco New Malden petrol station. 3) Not one but three ATM machines not working for your editor. Not just in SM4 but up north too.
Anything else? I think I mention it from time to time on SW19, and to some it might read like I’m going over some old ground again.
While having a pre-match cuppa in the concourse, I had a “moment”.
No, not that sort of moment (the judge has told me not to do it again, especially in a public place), nor is it even a senior moment – I’ve been having those since the day I was born.
It’s realising that so many of the people you used to see at fixtures on the road no longer go. At least, not to all of them.
There’s reasons for that, of course. Cost is one thing, mobility is another – I saw a couple of people with sticks struggling to get up and down the stairs yesterday**.
** – your editor was part of the invalid squad even up until two weeks ago, and until you’ve had something that restricts your mobility you have no idea how difficult getting to games can be.
Thankfully I’ve been on grade-A strength naproxen with omeprazole so I can walk up stairs unaided now. But others aren’t so lucky.
Some aren’t going to home games either, and won’t be for a good while.
True, there will always be those who will go to an away game even if it was the day after a nuclear bomb drops.
They’d just treat it as going to a game at Stadium:MT, albeit with more life and less zombies.
But I do think there’s now been a generational swap at away games, like there was in the early 1990s when people like me started going regularly and those before me listened to us on the radio instead.
I’ll still be going when costs and work allow, and I should be at more away games this season. But I’ve definitely done the Do-I-Know-That-Person spotting game more than a few times recently.
Home fixtures are probably going to take longer for that demographic shift, although I think it’ll be coming in the next couple of years anyway.
For road trips, it’s now happened. It’s not a bad thing – we took about 450 yesterday, similar to Bolton, and that’s a healthy away turnout.
And clubs need the new breed to go to both home and away games. Our support is one of the youngest about I reckon, which is good for the future.
I’ve been to some away fixtures in recent years where the average age of the home support is about mid-60s, and how relatively few youngsters there are.
You can’t say the same about us, indeed a couple of non-AFCW fans I’ve known have commented similarly too.
It means that certain things (one in particular that has vexed a few this week) aren’t nearly so important to the new generation.
There’s some lingering neurosis still about, and flushing that out is not before time…
So, was it worth it? Absobloodylutely.
In a nutshell: Away wins. One of life’s underappreciated pleasures.