AFC Wimbledon v Slough Town: MATCH THREAD

[GarySTFC]

In away games, similar. We always do better when there is covering behind the goal - ask Yeading last season, hardly a "cup final" occassion.

 

Your own fans admit it was poor yesterday. The stupid thing is, with that many people inside the ground for the Wombles, you could actually make your home games very intimidating for the opposing sides by getting behind the team from the off. The odd half hearted chant here and there won't make the slightest bit of difference.

[GarySTFC]

Oh, and we're very much a reactive set of fans. The team plays well, the support is vocal and encouraging. When we're not, it's very quiet. After your second went in, there was a real dip, then the volume increased again as we got back into the game.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

i seem to remember us making more noise at 6-0 down at home to billericay lsat season and still making more noise than the afc fans yesterday

[Guest]

Well yes I have to admit KM is sometimes quiet. There are probably loads of reasons for this but the main one is probably that many fans are in a culture shock and trying to get used to non league football.

 

You did well to come back yesterday. Good luck for the rest of the season.

[Guest]

couple of points for you all:

 

1 - i read the comments that we should be able to beat teams like slough as fair enough. look at the league table and it is not unreasonable, at home, to expect to win. we're 6 places above you with 3 games in hand after all.

 

2 - the segregation is as it is on police insistance. the ground isn't capable of full segregation yet, but the police ask for the extra security, even if it is just a perception.

 

3 - yeah, it was pretty quiet yesterday, but not a great game. have to say i couldn't hear you lot either, but i'm well aware that there are some acoustics issues in the ground.

 

4 - good luck for the rest of the season. you fought back well and brought a decent number, can't see you going down

[Ian]

Quote:

Anonymous said:Yesterday was a "cup final" for you lot, but a "normal" game for us. (And I don't mean that in a nasty way either.)

Nasty or not, that just about sums up everything I've been saying about AFC both as supporters and as an entire football club. For the record, we travel in numbers and make noise wherever we go.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

I hope AFCW ralley in the final games of the season and secure a promotion place and go up.

 

That way we wont have to play these egotistical wanna be's next season and that they end up coming back down the following season when we will be going up.

 

If AFCW want to know how much noise we make at a cup final they can buy the Bryco DVD and find out!

 

I personally look forward to play Maidenhead next season, as they at least they know what non-league football means.

[Martin]

At every other away game we go to we bring near enough 100 fans and a large group endeavour to make some noise. We are invariably congratulated by someone from the home support. If you can be arsed read back through this forum. Atmosphere at our "home" games tends to be pretty poor due to the nature of the ground, the fact it isn't home and the fact that the other teams bring limited travelling support. There are exceptions - I thought Margate were brilliant for example.

 

That wasn't our "cup final" and it is that sort of attitude that will find your team being disliked at this level. When you find yourselves in league football and we draw you in the first or second round of the FA cup then it could be described as such - like our winning match against Walsall last year.

[Guest]

To be fair, the atmosphere was quite flat yesterday. As with a lot of fans, we tend to be noisier away than at home (as one of your fans noted in an earlier post). Also, not sure Nathan can make the statement that we never make any noise as i assume he has not attended any other of our home games this season to make such a judgement.

 

Anyway, well done for the comeback and i expect we will meet again next year!

[Matt]

I think I agree with some parts of the AFC Wimbledon debate, and disagree on others.

 

The high admission cost is something that AFC have done since their inception in the Combined Counties league, in order to build the ground fund I believe, and pay off debts. Two and half thousand people are willing to pay this every other week, and it doesn't seem to put away fans off, so I'm not sure I can blame them too much for that, though it does seem pricey. The programme is a bit over-priced though, IMO. It has a glossy cover and pretty colour pictures, and the content is good, but is also littered with mistakes. Billericay produce a decent quality colour programme for £1.50. Again, it’s their choice and it comes down to the fact that over 95% of their home gates consist of home fans who are happy to pay the price. I think these are fairly minor gripes - AFC are a club looking to progress up the leagues, and the pricing works for them.

 

I didn’t understand the segregation either, with 'home' fans free to wander in and out, obstructing the views of others. I understand the AFC argument that they had to use that bit of terracing until very recently, and the view isn't always the best. But I thought segregation was all about using separate turnstiles for home and away fans, and actually separating the fans fully. If you need to do it, do it properly and install extra toilets and food outlets etc. where they're needed in the AFC sections. I’m sure this argument can be done to death but it puzzled me. I also found it rather unneccessary that the stewards and police were eyeballing us for the whole game. This isn't Football League. There weren't THAT many of us.

 

The 'arrogance' of some of their fans doesn’t bother me too much, as I’m sure it’s a small minority (though a lot of them said on their forum that they should be looking to sign McCleary after yesterday’s showing, as if he wouldn’t be setting his sights a lot higher!) Maybe a few of them think they should be winning every league, but they might just have to get used to this sort of level for a good few years like Aldershot did.

 

When it comes to atmosphere - we're noisier away from home too, so I guess AFC are no different. I think they could have made a huge difference if they were in the mood to sing for their team though.

 

I’m a little bemused by the use of the expression 'our cup final'. Walsall and Yeading, maybe. Though I will admit I was looking forward to yesterday’s game more than most other away games, it comes down to a number of factors (nice ground, large crowd, good atmosphere etc.), and I felt the same about Dover last season, for example. Although our following yesterday was strong, it will probably be equalled, or bettered, by the number we take to Staines towards the end of this season. As Ian said, Slough taking a large away following isn’t a rarity, and Kingston isn’t a million miles away.

 

As for the game itself, AFC will clearly be disappointed to have lost a two-goal lead but equally, credit must be given to Slough for coming back into the game, especially considering that our midfield was already decimated by injury even before Alexis went off, and Hodges was half-fit. Also, their first was due to a shocking defensive error. Of course they could have scored a couple more, but at 2-2, I thought we could have gone on to win, especially with McCleary in such sparkling form. He was pulling all the strings and making things happen, causing their defence problems every time he got the ball. A cracking finish and cross for Hodgey’s header – a real difference maker. We’ll miss him in the next couple of league games.

 

Well done Slough and here’s hoping for more success in the League Cup on Tuesday.

[A Rebel and a Saint]

i find it hard to believe that clubs are expected to provide extra facilities to accomodate afcw fans when they visit, but afc cannot do the same even though they get the same crowd every week

[Guest]

Well done yesterday pulling back to 2-2. Nice to hear and see fans who support their team. We seem to have a lot of moaners who like the sound of their own voices supporting our club. They are a minotity.

You deserved the draw.

[Guest]

Matt, the programme has been the subject of much debate over the season. Not just the price but the numerous errors (do you really have a player called Steve Daly Centre?). I stopped buying it when the price increased by 50p this season as it's just not worth it. Flicked through a friends yesterday quickly and spotted several errors.

 

Re the segregation. It's a really tricky one. I feel most games probably don't need it BUT we do have some right knobs as fans who have been known to taunt oppo fans in previous years and with the larger numbers seen this year it could present a problem. As you discovered yesterday it is very much a token affair. Having said that it's difficult to see how it could be better done without a lot of expenditure which is not likely in the short term. Hope it didn't detract from your being able to enjoy the game too much.

 

Some of our fans are knobs, some are just finding it difficult to accept and adjust to the massive fall from what they were used to only 3 or 4 years ago (not me mind!), most are decent and respectful albeit a little quiet....

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Just like to say a big thumbs up to the supporters Dons supporters who were at the match before and those who have posted on the forum who all seem to be intelligent polite gents, in response to my moan about segregation... If it was the police who set it up like that and insisted it was only segrehated one way (ie away fans stay there home fans come and go as please) then that is ridiculous. AFC have some good players and a great set up and I'm sure they will go up next year. good luck to em, just dont get to big for your boots and put other clubs/ fans backs up.

[Ted]

I was amused at the police response when a Slough fan swore (once). Over the top or what!!

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

I know..... if looks could kill, maybe they should have done something about the assault commited by the dons number 8, cos the ref didnt.

[Chris]

I kinda understand what he means by cup final (I think) in his posting, but I don't think it's intended in the way it's been perceived.

 

Personally it's a fixture I look forward to, but not as much as playing a side in the conference or a higher league, an fa cup game, fa trophy game etc.

 

Yes AFC have a lot of fans and it makes it a good day out, but there are no superstars in their side which make you think we have to be at our best today to get something out of the game. All players with Ryman backgrounds.

 

...well no superstars apart from Richard Butler who Gary has made his new hero it seems!

[Guest]

You sound like a bitter little person. I reccomend that you look at the video of our Surrey Cup Victory last season or the PCC the previous year to see what our supporters are about, before you start spouting off. I dont remember your fans making a lot of noise when we played at your ground earlier in the season.

[BFR]

Comparing the noise that 300 Slough Supporters made in a mostly uncovered ground compared to 2500 AFCW supporters in a fully covered ground is a little desperate don't you think?

[HorshamRebel]

Even Leyton made more noise (when we played there) than the AFC fans, and they only had about 90-100 fans