Match report
The Dons cruised to what was largely a comfortable victory over relegation-threatened Cambridge, who, despite Wimbledon’s dominance, could have snatched an undeserved point with a late rally.
Ask most Dons fans and they’ll tell you there’s something special about winning away games at former League grounds. But it wasn’t the location that most pleased the 600 travelling supporters, who were in fine voice throughout, or, oddly enough, even the three points that left the Dons just one win away from cementing second or third place in the final table. What was particularly enjoyable about this victory (or at least the first 81 minutes of it) was the many remarkably confident passing manoeuvres, which often involved all 11 players, and the patience the Dons showed as they pulled United’s defenders all over the pitch while looking to play a killer ball in behind the full-backs.
For large swathes of the game it looked as though Terry Brown had sat his charges down on Friday morning and showed them the DVD of Barcelona’s second-leg win over Arsenal at Camp Nou in March and said, “That’s what I want you to do on Saturday!” This reporter has been watching the Dons since 1978 and genuinely can’t remember a game where a Wimbledon side has exchanged more passes during a game – and to do that in a game where securing the three points was vital showed just how much confidence the players now have in one another, and at times it was a joy to watch.
“At times” is the key phrase – the first clear chance of the afternoon fell to United’s Lee Minshull lookalike Danny Wright, but with the goal at his mercy the former Histon striker completely missed Conal Platt’s cross. The Dons had completely controlled the pace of the first five minutes of the game, and but for a more alert (and quicker) centre-forward they would have fallen behind.
Stung into action in the warm sunshine, Wimbledon began the first of their numerous passing sequences, with Steven Gregory, Ricky Wellard, Gareth Gwillim and Luke Moore all contributing to a move which Gregory ended prematurely with a tame shot. Sam Hatton, the real Lee Minshull and Kaid Mohamed were playing the parts of Alves, Keita and Pedro, patiently finding one another with simple, quick passes before Mohamed’s bursts of speed took him past James Jennings and into crossing positions. The former Bath man’s final balls were not quite up to scratch, however, but United, puzzlingly in all white, were under almost constant pressure.
With a quarter of an hour gone, the pressure told. Another fine passing move led to a corner on the left, and from Hatton’s inswinger the ball fell to Mohamed, whose shot appeared to hit Brian Saah on the arm, but the rebound sat up nicely for Brett Johnson to sweep home his third goal in four games after 19 months without one (Grays away, August 2009, stat fans).
Within five minutes of taking the lead and looking as comfortable in possession as they had done all season, the Dons could easily have fallen behind. First, Ismail Yakubu’s wayward header fell kindly for Platt, and his dipping 25-yard volley was brilliantly tipped away by Seb Brown. Wright blazed over when a corner fell to him invitingly, and then Platt outwitted Hatton down the United left and found Wright, unmarked in the six-yard box, with a smart low cross, but as Wright shaped to shoot Gwillim blocked his goal-bound effort with one of the tackles of the season.
As far as first-half chances for Cambridge went, that was pretty much it, but the Dons were only just starting. A 29-pass move that involved every member of the team ended with a cute Minshull through-ball that was half a yard too long for Danny Kedwell, but just after the half-hour mark the Dons doubled their lead. Kedwell, Hatton, Minshull and Moore combined to great effect to set up Mohamed, who shot low past Simon Brown with a firm side-footed half-volley from the edge of the box for his first AFC Wimbledon goal.
Two minutes later, the striker was wondering how on earth he didn’t have two. Kevin Roberts’ back-pass fell yards short of his keeper, and Mohamed latched onto it, hared into the box and – with Kedwell screaming to be supplied with the simplest of chances – elected to shoot but found the United keeper’s chest instead of the back of the net.
Before this game, United had been on their best run of results of a disappointing season. But the Dons had certainly caught them on an off-day, and for the first 25 minutes of the second half the visitors dominated in every facet of the game. They were untroubled at the back, enjoyed possession in midfield (despite Rashid Yussuff’s absence through illness) and were powerful and pacy up front, with captain Kedwell, as ever, playing the pivotal attacking role. Gregory and Wellard, fresh from his nine-game stint at the Abbey Stadium, seemed to have all the time they needed to find Moore and Mohamed, who set up wave after wave of Dons attacks. The only thing missing was a third goal.
Mohamed dragged a shot wide and then had another effort blocked. Minshull cut inside Jennings and found his effort blocked by David Partridge, then watched as another defender got a touch on his goal-bound effort to send the ball out for a corner. Mohamed performed a nice trick of his own before having his legs whipped away by Roberts, but the referee rather theatrically waved away his appeals for what looked a nailed-on penalty. Luke Moore was then at the centre of a bizarre incident when he was pushed in the back just inside the box for what was an even clearer penalty, but again the referee turned him down – and did likewise to Cambridge when they appealed for handball, as Moore had clearly scooped the ball towards him as he lay on the ground. It should have been either a penalty for the Dons or a free-kick for United, but it turned out to be neither.
On 71 minutes Kirk Hudson replaced the tiring Wellard, who left the pitch to generous applause from all four sides of the ground, and within a minute the on-loan Brentford winger had set up Moore with a chance to make it three with a beautiful chip to the back post, but the volley had too much power in it and the ball flew over the bar. Kedwell then looked to find Mohamed at the far post with a low cross-shot, but slightly over-hit it, and Mohamed was a split second too late (or six inches too short) to convert the chance.
As the clock ticked down and the Dons began to coast, United suddenly came to life. Jordan Patrick tested Brown with a decent angled drive, Yakubu and Johnson were forced to concede corners under pressure from Wright and Liam Hughes, and with nine minutes to go Wright pulled a goal back with a crisp low drive from 15 yards that gave Seb Brown no chance. The Amber Army sprang into action and got behind their team at last, sensing that an unlikely point was in the offing. Thankfully, though, Wright’s finishing reverted to type and he missed two more takable opportunities as the Dons began to creak for the first time. Seb Brown gleefully watched a Luke Berry effort sail over his bar just before the final whistle. Wimbledon had weathered a very short but potentially harmful storm.
With a play-off place now all but secured, three more points on their return to Cambridgeshire next Saturday to take on rock-bottom Histon would guarantee a second- or third-place finish and home advantage in the second leg of the play-off semi-final. After their third win in a row, and their ninth away win of the season, it would be nothing less than the Dons deserved.
|
42) Danny Wright