“Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.”
George Herbert.
I think it says everything about the quality of our squad and the tangible optimism sweeping the ground that, despite the absence of seven first teamers, we expected to beat Wimbledon and a huge crowd of 7,819 turned up to see it. The weather was unseasonably balmy, and I was gratified to hear, from a number of people, that my programme notes – Hot Off The Habbin – had clearly been read by the football authorities who have decided to charge Manchester City after all with their long term and, only alleged, 115 offences. But will they have the courage to punish them appropriately? Abu Dhabi can provide some very expensive lawyers – not that I would ever suggest that justice can be bought. Interesting though that the Premier League have tried to bribe the EFL to accept an offer of £84 million to keep the Independent Regulator away from any discussions about the fairer distribution of wealth in football. All the more reason to leave it to the Regulator, who really must try to get to grips with a closed shop mentality verging on corruption. Vested interests are working against fair competition and the interests of every football fan who wants to see their club enabled to challenge the very best.
That apart, we enjoyed the opening 25 minutes, dominated by a United side in which Mpanzu played at Right Wing Back, an unusual role for him and one which got him booked later on for a poor challenge, born of not having sufficient speed to chase a departing winger. He is so much better in midfield, surrounded by runners, but needs must. The only viable alternative was to bring in untried youngster Dan Herd – who actually did well in the Whatchamacallit Trophy at Gillingham. As did Daniel Efobi, a forward full of promise and confidence. We will see him in a game soon, I’m sure. McConnell is clearly struggling with confidence but has much to offer. To a lesser extent, I think that Heath is a bit the same. He has loads of ability but seems reluctant to take on players in the way he can. He did have two men marking him though.
Then Jayden Stockley missed an easy header and followed up with a smartly taken goal minutes later. Cathal Heffernan was having trouble dealing with Stockley, who is not a pleasant character but still pretty lethal. He has earned a few red cards in his time, which is pretty rare for a centre forward. He was on loan with us years ago but didn’t think we were a big enough club for him as I remember. The fight went out of us for a while and we served up a number of high balls, which was pretty pointless, given the size of the Wimbledon defenders. It’s always a blow when you fall behind despite being the better team. Half time would surely bring changes.
Lavery came on for McConnell and nearly scored straight away with an audacious shot which Bursik did well to scoop away. The Referee, who seemed very good in the first half, lost the plot in the second, booking Watts for being tripped in the penalty area. When Bursik, now a very busy goalkeeper, went down with an imaginary ailment, a Wimbledon player should have gone off instead of the keeper. Mpanzu spent a long time trying to explain the rules to Ben Toner, who didn’t seem impressed or receptive. Wimbledon had one more chance to score, when Eastwood saved bravely, but the second half was all United. We missed three or four great chances and the sages of the Habbin began muttering about it being one of those days and how we would never score. I began to notice a succession of drunken youths leaving the stadium, unable to cope with adversity and disappointment, their sense of entitlement obvious and disappointing. Two blokes behind me, who always remind me of the critics in the Muppets, seemed to criticise every slip and miskick as if it were a personal affront. Predictably the moment they declared Zak Bradshaw a waste of space, he scored on 90+1. We deserved it. Wimbledon offered very little and when we kept the ball on the deck and ran at them, we looked very threatening – but if you don’t take you’re your chances. One attack, which ended with a shot hitting the bar, presented two other good chances. Another low cross across the face of goal just needed a touch from Appare who, unaccountably, missed it.
On the way home I heard a number of Wimbledon fans saying that they could easily have lost 4-1. They really could but if you’d asked me on 90 minutes if I would take a point, I’d have snatched your hand off! We missed Bennett enormously and having a right back but, more than that, we need a goal scorer. If we had one of those, we’d be promotion material.