AFC Wimbledon (3) 3 Jolley 10, 12 Midson 22
Gillingham (0) 1 Lee 67
Att. 4,606
Entrance: £15
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 118/1,409
Match Report
For many of the Gillingham following to Kingsmeadow this would have been their first visit and it will be quickly forgotten as the visitors served up an embarrassing 45 minutes including a horrific 12 minute spell that exposed perhaps more than defensive fragility.On a blisteringly hot day that was suffocating under the low roof of the John Smith’s Stand as Gillingham withered in the heat they tried the patience of their supporters and for some it was all too much as they vented their fury at their own players and manager with poisonous venom.
Danny Kedwell’s return to his old club was greeted respectfully by his old supporters who prior to kick off hung a banner with a caricature of the striker (below), but this was replaced by another banner once the game commenced. No sentiment remained once the ball is kicked and quite rightly so.
Joe Martin and Barry Fuller remained sidelined, so the reshuffled back line remained from last Saturday’s home win against Burton Albion.
The first ten minutes passed quietly enough with Gillingham enjoying much of the territorial advantage before a crass piece of defending by Matt Lawrence allowed Christian Jolley a free run on goal and a well taken finish. It was a seemingly innocuous ball over the top that left the defender with a simple job of clearing his lines or passing the ball back to goalkeeper Ross Flitney. A serious misjudgement of the flight of the ball allowed Jolley to get beyond him and expertly finish.
AFC Wimbledon quickly doubled their advantage in the 12th minute when Jolley got between the dithering central defenders to convert a Sam Hatton cross with a diving header leaving all sorts of arguments and inquests among the bemused back line.
The afternoon went from bad to worse on 20 minutes with a further episode of horrific defending. Perhaps we see situations as easy to deal with from the terraces when they not, but it seemed the simplest job in the world to see this particular situation to safety. But Garry Richards, Matt Fish and Chris Whelpdale each conspired to eventually present the easiest of chances to Jack Midson who, in truth, couldn’t miss (and didn’t).
By now Gillingham were in complete disarray (was going to say meltdown but in the conditions everybody on and off the pitch had already melted). Andy Hessenthaler decided that enough was enough at the back and Lawrence with withdrawn on 37 minutes. The veteran defender did not take his substitution at all well and his displeasure (in fact it was anger) was there for the entire Gillingham support to witness being situated directly behind the bench.
In fairness to Hessenthaler, the reshuffle that led to Andy Frampton, who was having a torrid time at left back, moving to central defence and Danny Jackman taking the left full back spot did shore up the catastrophic back line.
Hessenthaler’s half time words must have had an effect as well as Gillingham made a far better fist of the second half, albeit that, in the heat, AFCW may well have taken their foot off the pedal. Luke Rooney, although exasperating at times and collecting a fair amount of abuse for being greedy, was the bright spot of the first half and came more to the fore in the second.
Seb Brown, the AFCW keeper, drew the wrath of the visiting support when he fell to the ground, as if he had taken a Hayemaker from Frank Nouble. The referee, Michael Naylor, saw through the Oscar performance of the keeper, but booked Nouble for the offence. Personally, I thought the referee handled this particular situation very well, he saw that Nouble had raised a hand but also recognised that Brown had made a complete meal of the incident.
In any satisfaction can be derived from this game it came about on the hour with the introduction and the subsequent effect that new signing Joe Kuffour had on the game. Gillingham became much more of a threat in the last half hour and might well have allowed the glass half full supporter the opportunity of a little if, buts and maybes.
In the 67th minute, the visitors pulled a goal back with an exquisite strike from Charlie Lee, firing into top right hand corner from 20 yards. From nothing, Gillingham were now on the front foot with Kuffour and Rooney posing questions of the home defence that had not been previously asked. Both were capable of running with the ball and on three occasions Rooney fired across the face of goal, begging for somebody to make a touch. If only, one had been made it could have set up a grandstand finish with Gills having the momentum. Unfortunately, ifs, buts and maybes.
Charlie Lee picked up a fifth booking for the season with five minutes remaining for a challenge that the conspiracy theorist would believe was “bought” to serve the suspension for Tuesday night’s Paint Pot game.
I’ve tried to be fair to both sides in this report mainly because of the vitriol, some of which unacceptable, that was exerted by the visiting support. Twitter messages suggested that Gillingham were downright awful for 90 minutes. They were for 45 and were even worse for 12 of those. AFCW were made to look like Barcelona in that period of the game, they were not, but they looked a decent side, especially in the opening half.
Kingsmeadow is a stadium that looked impressive when I visited as a visiting supporter from Ryman League Tonbridge, unfortunately for Wimbledon they have grown too fast for the stadium. A sell-out crowd of 4,606 is hardly adequate even at League Two level and to be honest I was under the obviously incorrect impression that 6,000 capacities were the minimum criteria for Football League entry. I read in the programme that they are planning to enlarge the stadium which would suggest that their return to the Borough of Merton remains a distant dream. But in their short existence they have had many such dreams and most have materialised, so never say never.
For Gillingham, I don’t know. I left the ground frustrated and angry. After reflection I’ve drawn a few positives from the second half, but without doubt, the back line that started this game need to have a long hard look at themselves because those 12 minutes were completely unacceptable.
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