August 2001

30/08/2001
The reserves lost 2-0 at West Ham on Tuesday night, West Ham were awarded two penalties in the space of a minute.

29/08/2001
Correction on the date of the Portsmouth game, with us at Watford on Sunday 9th September (Live on ITV Digital 6:15pm kick off) the Portsmouth game is more likely to be on Wednesday 12th September.

28/08/2001
The result of the Norwich Man Of The Match vote is as follows: -

Andy Roberts 6 votes 29%
David Connolly 5 votes 24%
Rob Geir 4 votes 19%
Paul Heald 2 votes 10%
Kevin Cooper 2 votes 10%
David Nielsen 1 vote 5%
Chris Willmott 1 vote 5%

The Man Of The Match vote for the Preston game is now open please vote by clicking below.

Charles Koppel has written to the Football League to appeal against the decision against the proposed move to Milton Keynes.

Mark Williams has pulled out of Northern Irelands World Cup game at the weekend following the injury that has kept him out of the last couple of Dons games.

Yesterday was one of them "Games of Two half's" we clearly controlled the first half and could of gone in a couple of goals up Andy Roberts had a golden opportunity but just put his effort wide. David Connolly also had a couple of chances but good saves by the Preston keeper kept them out.

At the start of the second half Preston changed their keeper and for the vast majority of the half we didn't test him.

Couple of players who stood out were Chris Willmott and Rob Geir at the back (Rob he last 10 minutes of the first half while off the pith having stitches). Jobi McAnuff and Andy Roberts also had very good games with Jobi completing his first full 90 minutes.

27/08/2001
Another two points dropped? After taking the lead just before half time through Neil Shipperley we conceded a goal early in the second half in an almost identical game to last year.

26/08/2001
With both us and Portsmouth out of the Worthington cup it means we have a free date to allow us to play the match that has been called off next weekend due to the international games. The date should be Tuesday 11th September 2001 but may be Wednesday 12th September 2001.

25/08/2001
A 1-0 defeat against Norwich was a big disappointment today. I think it would be fair to say we controlled the first half with numerous chances to take the lead, but the longer it went on it looked unlikely we would score and after three consecutive corners were taken in our attack Norwich broke away and scored with just a few minutes left.

A number of changes were made to the team today with Paul Heald being in goal and Rob Geir replacing Mark Williams.

The vote for the Norwich Man Of The Match is now open and you can vote by clicking below.

Congratulations to everyone that did the Walk for Wimbledon today I am sure you may be sitting down with your feet up now.

If you cant make the match today the following links may be of use.

For Live Scores click here.

Or for live commentary on the game try the following direct link by clicking here if that doesn't work try going via the Wimbledon Official site by clicking here.

Today is the "Walk For Wimbledon" this has been planned for a long time and the idea is to mark the fact that we have been away from Plough Lane for 10 years. It will start at Wimbledon Station and go via Plough Lane were I understand a few speeches will be made at about 11:00 before heading over to Selhurst. Good luck to all taking part in the event.

The result of the Brighton Man Of The Match vote is as follows: -

David Nielsen 4 votes 25%
Ian Feuer 3 votes 19%
Ian Selley 3 votes 19%
Andy Roberts 2 votes 13%
Mark Williams 1 vote 6%
Alan Kimble 1 vote 6%
Neil Shipperley 1 vote 6%
Kevin Cooper 1 vote 6%

Thanks to everyone who voted a new vote will open after today's Norwich game.

24/08/2001
Two more players have been given squad numbers and could be a sign of a couple of injuries that we could suffer leading in to Saturday's game. Dean Blackwell has been reallocated the number 5 shirt while Simon Mensing has been given shirt number 36.

23/08/2001
This weekend the Walk For Wimbledon is taking place for more information click on the following link.

The Dons face Norwich at the weekend and last season we won at Carrow Road but played out a typical end of season draw at Selhurst at the last day of the season.

Lets hope that Saturday will see another 3 points.

22/08/2001
The match at Selhurst against Portsmouth on 1st September has been called off due to international games that weekend.

21/08/2001
Just got back from a 2-1 defeat at Brighton and we are out of the Worthington Cup. Yes it was a disappointing performance in which we failed to hold on to the lead (after Mark Williams had scored from a corner). Both of Brighton's goals were scored by Hot Shot Bobby Zamora.

A new man of the match vote for the Brighton Game has now opened please click below to vote.

The result of the Burnley man of the match poll is as follows: -

Neal Ardley 11 votes 52%
Kelvin Davis 4 votes 19%
Neil Shipperley 2 votes 10%
Kevin Cooper 1 vote 5%
Andy Roberts 1 vote 5%
David Connolly 1 vote 5%
David Nielsen 1 vote 5%

20/08/2001
The reserves are in action tonight against Leicester City at Kingstonians. I believe the Half Time score is Dons 2 Leicester 0. The first dons goal was believed to be scored against the run of play by Ansah Owusu while the second was a Paul Robinson screamer. In the closing minutes of the game the score is now 4-2 to the Dons with Ansah and Neil Jenkins getting our additional goals.

A couple of change dates for a fixture against the same team later in the season. Our match at Selhurst against Sheffield United has been moved to a Friday night (9th November) with a 7:45 kick off and the match away at Sheffield United which once again was due to be played on Easter Monday with a 3pm kick off will now kick off at 7:45 meaning a late return for the traveling Dons fans.

The Burnley Man Of The match will be open until I return from our 1st round Worthington Cup match at Brighton so please click below to vote.

19/08/2001
Yesterdays 3-2 defeat at Burnley was disappointing but looking on the positive side it was a lot better than the performance at the same game last year. We managed to score twice against them after last years two blank sheets.

So here is how I saw the game. It started off a bit shakey and to be honest when we took the lead through David Nielsen on 10 minutes was the first real chance of the game. David finished the move really well slotting the ball past the keeper.

Whilst I was in the process of sending a text message of the goal Burnley equalised, Jermaine seemed to be a fault when he under hit a back pass and Burnley scored within a minute.

On 29 minutes Burnley were awarded a penalty from my view this seemed like a fair decision after Chris Willmott pushed a Burnley player. This was dispatched past Kelvin with Kelvin diving the wrong way.

It was no surprise that the penalty was given as in my opinion the ref had a poor game, not just for us but for both sides. He didn't let the game flow and it seemed that the Burnley players took more 'advantage' of this than we did.

On 40 minutes Burnley were awarded another 'suspect' free-kick on the edge of the box by the corner flag line. The ball was played in and Kelvin tried to punch the ball out but it didn't clear the box and Burnley ended up putting the ball into the back of the net. They were now 3-1 up and it looked like game over before half time.

At half time the talk among the dons fans was the performance of Kelvin Davis and the fact that he could of been at fault for two off the goals. In Kelvin's defence I understand that prior to the Birmingham Game last week he broke his thumb in the warm up. This would explain why he was trying not to catch the ball.

In the second half after one of the biggest downpours I have seen at football we were a lot better and controlled the game.

We scored through Neil Shipperley on 65 minutes to make the score 3-2 and give us hope of getting a result.

In the remaining minutes David Connolly showed what a good player he was as he hit the inside of the post but the ball stayed out and no more goals were added.

The Man Of The Match vote for the Burnley game is now open please vote by clicking below. This vote will be open until late Tuesday night once I return from the Worthington Cup match at Brighton.

Just got back from Burnley so just a very quick update we lost 3-2 with our goals from David Nielsen and Neil Shipperley. David Connolly hit the inside of the post but we couldn't get a share of the points.

The reflection on the game has been quite good the News Of The World said that "We deserved atleast a share of the points" and the Burnley manager added "I thought that Wimbledon were a very good side, but we got the breaks today"

18/08/2001
Just about to set off for the long trip North to Burnley but before I go the result of the Birmingham City Man Of The Match vote. The winner was our new defender Jermaine Darlington by a number of votes. Well done Jermaine and thanks to everyone who voted a new vote will be up tonight on my return from Burley. The full vote is given below.

17/08/2001
Sorry for the late update tonight had a works do to go to but lets get the show on the road.

16/08/2001
On a night like this their is not a lot I can really say so I will just print the words of David Burns the head of the Football League:

15/08/2001
A few International matches tonight but most of our players are not involved, David Connolly is on the bench for the Republic Of Irelands game against Croatia.

14/08/2001
The second goal on Monday night for the reserves was scored by Wayne Gray this meant he scored two goals in the match. One player who stood out for Charlton was ex Wimbledon target Kevin Lisbie apparently Charlton had a brilliant 10 minutes when they scored a couple of their goals to almost secure the game.

13/08/2001
Update from Kingston, with a few minutes left the score is Dons 3 Charlton 4. The dons took a first minute lead through Wayne Gray before Clive Mendonca scored a brilliant goal for Charlton. The Dons had a poor second half and were 4-2 down buy in the dying minutes Paul Robinson scored a penalty to make it Dons 3 Charlton 4.

With everything that has been going on over the weekend I have re-posted the link to the Man Of The Match vote so far a brilliant turn out but make sure that you all vote.

12/08/2001
Terry Burton made the following comment after yesterdays match "I thought the fans were behind us - they were very good," ''I received a couple of letters from the supporters group to say 'we appreciate your position and this is not about your team, this is about the fact we don't want to go to Milton Keynes. We'll get behind you during the match." ''The only analogy that I can use is that it's a couple of people that I care a lot about that are in the middle of a divorce. I care about the supporters and the club." He finished by adding ''I can't affect the situation - I can only affect what happens on the pitch, and that's what I'll be concentrating on. I wasn't part of the process that made that decision. It was made at board level. I don't ask them what team to pick and they don't ask me what's best for the club."

11/08/2001
Right that was good a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City.

Lets go through the days events I worked in the shop and it was nice to see some old face and here some nice supportive comments. I watched the game from the Sainsburys end of the ground and it was quite impressive as the teams came on to the pitch too see all the balloons being released. The minutes silence for the Portsmouth keeper was well observed as you would have expected.

The game started and on 20 minutes Neal Ardley had a cracking 20 yard shot which the keeper pushed onto the post and it was managed to be cleared.

The game continued but to be honest although we had quite a bit of control it was hard to see where a goal was going to come from. Trond Andersen was hurt in a challenge and was replaced by David Nielsen who went out wide right with Neal Ardley going into the centre of the park.

In the closing minutes of the half Kevin Cooper managed to beat a couple of defenders and managed to cut the ball back for Neil Shipperley to put the ball in the back of the net. 1-0 to the Dons at half time and things were going well.

The second half started and we were soon 2-0 up when David Nielsen broke clear of the defense and was in a 1 on 1 situation with their keeper but just to his left was David Connolly who fortunately David Nielsen saw played the ball across the box and Connolly could open his account by smashing the ball into an empty net. So 50 minutes gone and 2-0 up, after the frustration of the opening game of the season last year when we drew 0-0 with Tranmere this felt really good.

We continued to push forward and on 75 minutes put the game safe when we scored our third it appears that it has been given as a Darren Purse Own Goal but some people think that David Connolly got the last touch.

Birmingham pulled a goal back about five minutes from the end but this scoreline was well deserved. I cant finish the comments without saying how brilliant Patrick Agyemang is, this guy just defied belief and if we didn't see him with our own eyes we would never believe what people say about him.

Now after the summer break it is time to vote for the man of the match click the following link and cast your vote I will announce the winner before the Burnley game on Saturday.

The long summer days are over and Winter has arrived or in other words Football is back!

Today we have a real test against Birmingham City a team we beat twice last season but they made the play-offs and we didn't. The aim on the pitch this season really needs to be a minimum of the playoffs and I think the additions that we have made to the squad could well see this happen.

The season will once again start with both Kenny Cunningham and Gareth Ainsworth on the side lines but lets hope they are both back soon.

If you cant make the game today keep up to date on the live scores by using livegoal.net to visit their site click here

Another ex-player that has backed the anti Milton Keynes campaign is Dennis Wise who is now at Leicester City. He said it would be a terrible thing to happen to the club and it was a real shame that we ever left Plough Lane in the first place.

Don't forget that the official site will have match commentary at http://www.wimbledon-fc.co.uk.

10/08/2001
So the eve of a new football season and one that looks like that it will be interesting both on and off the pitch.

09/08/2001
In answer to a couple of questions in my guestbook I will make the following comments. 1) If the club did go to Milton Keynes I would have nothing more to do with it. I wouldn't support another team I would watch football but would never watch that team play either at their ground or any other. 2) I will be adding a new poll before the weekend and also the results of the current one.

08/08/2001
Just a reminder that the WISA meeting takes place tonight starting at 7:30.

07/08/2001
Young Left Back Des Byrne has been sent on loan for a month to Cambridge United. Des has been involved in some of the pre-season games but this will give him a chance to play regular first team football. You will know that Cambridge have been quite good to us in the past over a left back as we signed Alan Kimble off them.

06/08/2001
With the season starting on Saturday at 'Selhurst' against Birmingham season tickets haven't been received by fans as of yet. But word from the club is that they are going out at the moment and should be with fans in the next day or two.

05/08/2001
Whilst most of us are at home thinking about how we can try and keep the club in South London some news has just been announced that brings all of this into perspective. Portsmouth's Goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan who was 25 years old has been killed in a car crash. All I can add is that my thoughts and most of the people I would imagine who read this site are with his Family and people connected with Portsmouth Football Club. A Portsmouth fans site Fratton Faithful have set up a message board to leave comments and messages of support please visit the site.

04/08/2001
After last nights game at Brentford the other half of the squad are off to Colchester this afternoon for the final pre-season game before the season starts.

03/08/2001
20 minutes into the second half of the match and the score is now 4-0 first goal of the second half was from David Nielsen with a very nice finish and the second one of the half was a bullet header from Mark Williams.