AFC Wimbledon 1 Gillingham 1

Match 20/21/1885 - Tuesday, 17th August 2021 - League One

AFC Wimbledon (0) 1 Palmer 86
Gillingham (0) 1 Kalambayi (o.g.) 90+7
Attendance: TBC

New Ground: 345

Admission: £15 Senior
Programme: £3
Mileage: 116/1,051

Football is the strangest of games, don’t we just love it! For pretty much all of the 100 minutes that this game was played, Gillingham were absolute dogs poo and when they went down to 10 men with 20 minutes to go, survival was the sole objective. Eventually the resolve was broken with four minutes to go and disconsolate supporters headed for the exit, but the game is never over until the final whistle!

As we return to as close to normality as we will probably ever be, life is all about firsts. So, for the first time in 625 games, I’m watching Gillingham in a competitive game and a first new ground in 10 months.

The first thing about the new Plough Lane is that it’s not easily accessible. Parking is non existent, so the train was decided as the best option but the underground leaves you with a 25 minute walk, which is a long trek when you are desperate to catch a train home.

The ticketing was a bit ponderous with one harassed woman searching through a box of envelopes to retrieve your envelope which contains the QR code for scanning. Quite why this could not be delivered to a personal phone is a bit of a mystery.

Once inside the stadium is functional without being exciting and, until Wimbledon scored with a couple of minutes to go, lacked any sort of atmosphere. Pet hate of mine is being charged £2.50 for a cup of tea and my brother said the pies were not good either.

The ticket plan didn’t give a true reflection on the seating position and consequently we were tucked alongside the corner flag.

As mentioned Gillingham were pretty poor, but Wimbledon were not much better and this made for a first half of questionable quality.

Gillingham had one period after about half-an-hour in which they got the ball down and almost proved they were capable of playing some decent stuff but, for the most part, it was hit it long in the direction of Vadaine Oliver and hope for the best.

Wimbledon, for all their domination, barely asked Jamie Cumming to make a serious save although one would have to say that his handling was impeccable.

During the Gills brief period of ascendancy, Dempsey and Reeves brought saves from the Dons’ keeper, Nik Tzanev.

Whilst an over-officious referee was starting his collection of Gillingham players in his book with the booking of Robbie McKenzie, the visitors were guilty of giving away far too many free kicks in dangerous areas.

Having subscribed to the theory that the second half couldn’t get any worse, Wimbledon got marginally better and the Gills, one could argue, actually did get worse.

David Tutonda picked up a booking on 55 minutes that was ultimately to lead to his dismissal for a reckless challenge on Henry Lawrence, the best player on the pitch, after 72 minutes.

The rearguard action for Gillingham was on and they defended manfully with Jack Tucker outstanding but they eventually lost the battle with the clock when McCormick stood up a cross for Ollie Palmer to head home from close range with four minutes remaining.

All seemed lost for Gillingham and into the final minute of six added, AFCW's Ayoub Assai sprinted clear only to be flagged offside. Instead of just leaving the ball, he elected to round the goalkeeper and then heave it into the stand. Pure madness, but the booking he received was the minor retribution. As the clock ticked past 97 minutes, Gillingham made one last effort, gaining a free kick that was lofted into the box but half-cleared to Harvey Lintott, whose volley was going well wide until it took a wicked deflection and looped over the stranded goalkeeper.

Pandemonium reigned among the travelling faithful, the most unlikely of points had been gained and made the long walk back to Tooting Broadway just a little less tiresome.