Dons kick of the 24/25 campaign in style

New season, same old Wimbledon. Well that’s what I thought when we had conceded 2 goals within the first 10 minutes with Colchester scoring inside 54 seconds as I blinked to look the other way and see absolute carnage in the away stand. I started to feel a rush of deja vu, as if I’ve seen this type of Wimbledon before. And of course it brought me back to the season of relegation from league one. Two very poor goals to concede very early into the game which both came from crosses into our box which weren’t dealt with very well. Goodliffe was found free at the back post where he guides the ball into the far corner making it 1-0 to the away side. I blink to look up and before I knew it we were two down. Goodliffe again… this time we were actually marking him however he jumps highest and nods past Goodman to give Colchester a comfortable( at the time) 2-0 lead. I think I’d of probably sank into my seat at this point just wanting the  game to be over already. By the 10th minute I don’t think we had strung a pass together. However that all changed where new boy James Furlong has the ball in a lot of space down the far left of the attacking half. Initially trying to lightly “dink” it into the box hoping the it to land on someone’s head, it was brought down nicely by Bugiel where he made the space to get a shot away in which it took a deflection off James Ball to trickle in the bottom right hand corner. Game on. All of a sudden momentum had suddenly shifted, we had more possession, we were attacking with intent. Alistair Smith, Reeves and Ball all really controlling that midfield really well, they weren’t slowing the game down. It eventually fell to Furlong again on the left hand side to which he had “dinked” it in again. This cross fell towards Ali Smiths feet where he struck a clean shot however Macey was down quick enough to stop it with his feet. Attack over? No, Skipper Jake reeves pulls out an outstanding shot outside the box to find its way into the left hand corner of the goal. 2-2. This is the fighting spirit that I felt from last season an example of this would be Notts at home. 38 minutes on the clock and 4 goals had already been shared. Soon to be a fifth? Yes, as a ball is clipped over to Furlong from Matty Steven’s where he tried to head the ball back into the box, however the momentum of his run lead him off balance from former don loanee, Kymani-Gordon. As Furlong headed it back into play it struck Gordon’s arm and the ref gives a penalty. At first I thought it was given from the push from Gordon as Furlong looked to be in some discomfort when colliding with the advertisement boards. He immediately got back up and up stepped Matty Steven’s to get his first goal for the dons in which he dispatches very nicely as Macey dives the opposite way. A very entertaining first half in which proves to be a good advert for league 2 football. 

The second half… not as exciting as the first but we see a 2 goal advantage handed to us as Josh neufville fires his way past two defenders who sets it back to Ali Smith who unfortunately hit the crossbar in what would of been a goal against his former club. As I thought the attack was over, Omar bugiel just does what Omar Bugiel does and bullies his way through the box so he can win that ball first. He’s first to the ball in which had been smashed very high. Bugiel jumped first and guided it into the bottom right hand corner. Perfect. A 2 goal lead, and excellent comeback. Not much happened for the last 30 minutes but just us defending very well to prevent any significant danger from entering our box. 

Full time:4-2 to the dons. Perfect way to start this season off. The first 10 minutes of the game was appalling to watch but we got into our stride. I thought Alastair Smith and Josh Neufville were the standouts today. Smith is going to be a key player this season. Very good at knowing how much time he has on the ball, very technical and has an attacking mindset. Mentions to Furlong, Steven’s and Ball who I also thought were excellent today. 

Thanks for reading, onto Bromley x2 in one week. 

Uppa Dons 🟡🔵