By Rob Cornell
Long-serving George Francomb is aiming for another unforgettable moment in his career against Brentford – a long-awaited AFC Wimbledon victory in the League Cup.
The right-sided midfielder scored Wimbledon's goal of 2013, in the 5-3 Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat at Griffin Park against the Bees. The goal can be seen below, in a link via our official club YouTube channel.
"It was my first goal for the club, a real nice team goal," said George in an interview to our premium iFollow Dons channel. "It was a strange match and hopefully we won't be on the receiving end of that score line again! I think, since I've been here, we've not got past the first round which is pretty disappointing, but hopefully we can change that."
Another well-worked, team-effort at The Cherry Red Records Stadium would be most welcome as the Dons at last have a home tie in the competition and bid to make the second round against Championship opposition.
"It's going to be tough with the way they like to play football. They play really good football when I've seen them over the last few years and they've done ever so well to get up into the Championship and stay there and not only stay there, but have a good few seasons there as well where they are causing teams problems - so it will be a good test for us.
"They are one of those clubs you look at and think they've done it the right way and they are reaping the rewards of it. They've got players coming through and invested well in the players and they've got with a good brand of football there as well," George added.
George, along with right-sided partner Barry Fuller and the returning Callum Kennedy, is one of three survivors from the last competitive meeting between the two sides and he is now into his fifth successive season with Wimbledon.
"For myself, I'll do whatever the team needs from me," added George. "The gaffer knows he can play me in a couple of different positions. At the moment, we're playing 4-3-3 and I'm enjoying playing in midfield, but if anything changes and he needs me to play elsewhere he knows I've got no problem with filling in."
Wimbledon go into tonight's Cup clash (kick-off 7.45pm) off the back of an encouraging 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe on the opening day in League One, while Brentford lost 1-0 at last year's champions Sheffield United.
"We were pleased with the performance more than anything," said George. "Going up there, we would have taken a point before the game - get that point on the board. We were disappointed with our second-half performance, but we felt we could have gone on and got the three points. We were happy with the overall performance and what we've been doing in pre-season we tried our best to put that into practice with points at stake and I think we did that well."
The full interview with George Francomb is available to iFollow Dons subscribers, along with the pre-match thoughts of assistant manager Neil Cox.
Tickets are still available for tonight's game. Buy in advance up until 3.45 pm from our online ticket shop (collect from the white booth in Jack Goodchild Way) or pay on the night.