New goalkeeper played against Wimbledon in 2005
John Sullivan is a loan signing who knows all about the AFC Wimbledon success story because he played against the Dons after their Ryman Division One title win in 2005.
Birthday, spent a previous loan spell at Burgess Hill as a teenager and he kept goal when the Sussex outfit were beaten 3-1 by Wimbledon almost eight years ago.thThe Charlton Athletic goalkeeper, who helped the Dons to victory on his debut against York City just a day after celebrating his 25
John is also a close friend of Wimbledon favourite Jason Euell and regularly watched the Dons in their Selhurst Park days with his predecessor Neil Sullivan between the sticks.
since joining on loan, it was that day in particular on 30 April, 2005, that first sprung to mind when he talked about Wimbledon.Dons PlayerBut in his first interview for
Speaking to Rob Cornell, John said: “When I was 17 I was sent out on loan from Brighton to Burgess Hill to get experience. It was the season Wimbledon won the Ryman Division South and I can remember thousands of the club’s supporters coming down to Burgess Hill. We only usually played in front of 200 or 300. That was the first sign I knew that Wimbledon were going places. Since then they have come into the league and I want to help the club stay there.”
the “Home keeper helped keep the score respectable when producing an excellent stop from Martin Randall.” Wimbledon won the match 3-1 at Burgess Hill – three games after being crowned as Ryman Division One South title winners – and the match report on our official website said that
Randall, Antony Howard and Gavin Bolger struck the goals for Wimbledon in front of a crowd of 2,005 spectators.
The 14-day trial is on offer for the rest of this month and includes access to exclusive interviews, match highlights and match commentaries of every League 2 match. .Dons Player trialYou can listen to WDON live coverage of tonight’s Southend game, weather permitting, for FREE by signing up for a Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with John Sullivan on our premium site, along with other exclusive interviews.
One of the first people to congratulate John after he helped Wimbledon to victory on Saturday was his close friend Jason Euell, who the goalkeeper watched a lot during his playing days and later teamed up with at Charlton Athletic.
“It was nice for Jason to come along and watch me make my debut,” added John. Jason texted the day before to say that he was coming and he came in the dressing room afterwards to congratulate everyone. I used to watch Wimbledon a lot with a few of my mates when they played at Selhurst Park. Wimbledon was the nearest Premier League team to Brighton so I went to watch the games.
“I remember Neil Sullivan well. He had a great career and I understand he was brilliant this season when he came back. But I am not worried about that because as a goalkeeper you have to concentrate on yourself. I am not thinking that I have his boots to fill and will just do the best that I can. The fans were brilliant with me on Saturday and I really appreciated that. I will do my best to help Wimbledon stay up.
“I am at a great club in Charlton, but I currently find myself as third-choice goalkeeper. I need to go out and play games and I am grateful to Wimbledon for providing me with this opportunity.”