Windsor, home of Windsor Castle, and of course Legoland. The roads were narrow, and the buildings quaint, the turnstiles narrow, and the pitch green. After 5 matches and five defeats, I was still happy and excited to watch our team.
Kevin Cooper started for the Dons today, after putting two past us at Gander Green Lane. The first half was an unbelievable performance, with accurate passes and sound defending. Windsor was frustrated, even scared of the Dons, as they nervously kicked the ball out of play when the Dons were attacking. The change was remarkable, after our 5-0 drubbing at Walton & Hersham. The team played with poise and created some nice chances, although failing to convert them. On the other hand, Windsor had to defend deep, and had two shots at goal; both which were covered by Andy Hunt in goal again, after his sterling performance on Wednesday. Windsor’s saving grace was that of their back four, who on at least four occasions, made Cooper offside.
The second half saw the Dons fans invade a different half of the terraces, and carry on singing. The match actually looked within our grasp. The refereeing before this game had seen some fairly dubious decisions (as the home team selects their own referee to govern the match), but up until the first half, the decisions were sound. With the second half under way the first five minutes showed how the Dons dominated play: passing coolly, dribbling and searching for men. A free kick was given for an unknown reason on the right of the pitch just inside of Windsor’s half. They caught the Dons off-guard and allowed a one-on-one with the keeper; placing the ball into the back of the net on the 53rd minute. After this the Dons seem to come apart as such, and Windsor gained confidence. This led to an assault on the Wimbledon keeper, only for a second goal to go in and be ruled out, much to the delight of the fans.
Eames substituted five off his men, and this seems to show some gratification as two sitters were sorely missed. Overall the game was played mainly by Wimbledon, but it is the goals that count. I feel that the 5-0 that Walton gave us on Wednesday taught us a lesson, and I also feel that the way we played today taught us that we can win; that we are special; and that we’re going to make history. Well, we hope!
I think that the key to our game, against teams a couple of divisions above us is: fitness. In our first couple of games we showed that we could run around for the first 20 minutes well, now we are showing that we can run around for the first hour well. It’s going to take a few more games and a few more defeats (not big ones, mind), to teach ourselves that we are a capable, adaptable and a fit team, full of potential to exploit the CCL.