Pre-season Friendly
Plough Lane, Wimbledon
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Attendance: 4,000
As many Step 5 and 6 leagues were opening their season's fixtures today, I had originally planned to take in a competitive game today. However, once I became aware of this fixture, offering an early opportunity to recomplete my visits to League One grounds, and with all tickets free of charge today, this was too good an opportunity to miss.
Visiting Plough Lane was something I was very much looking forward to, although it promised to be something of a bitter sweet experience for me, as it has been built on the site of the former Wimbledon Stadium, which not only hosted greyhound racing, but also short circuit motor racing, and where my father raced on many occasions over the years as I was growing up. Originally opened in 1928 and renovated in the 1950's, it absolutely oozed character and dated elegance of an old fashioned sports stadium, but after many years of neglect, and the sharp decline in the popularity of greyhound racing, it was little surprise in the end that the stadium was sold off by its owners, the Greyhound Racing Association, and demolished to make way for a new home for AFC Wimbledon, a few hundred yards from their former home ground, along with around 600 residential apartment blocks and various other community facilities. A video made by Sky Sports charting the end of the old Wimbledon Stadium can be viewed by clicking here
Whilst the new stadium hosted its first game in November 2020, Covid restrictions have ensured that no fans have yet been present at any league game yet, although a friendly against Liverpool U23 serving as a Covid related test event in May finally allowed 2,000 fans to be present. Today would be another test event, although this one was mainly to satisfy the Safety Advisory Group that the West (Main) Stand was fit to host league football, and for this reason, only the West Stand was open to spectators today. To help ensure a full capcity of 4,000 spectators today, all tickets were free of charge, and an additional nice touch by the club was that all visitors were issued with a voucher on entry, which could be redeemed for an alcoholic or soft drink, as a thank you for attendng.The ground does require some finishing touches around the outside, and access to the main stand was at either end, depending on the seat location. The end closest to Plough Lane was accessed via steps and through turnstiles, but the other end was via an unsigned path through industrial estates, with tickets being scanned en route to the stand. The stand is accessed via a flight of steps leading into the concourse passing along the back of the seating, which takes up the bottom third of the three tier stand, withglass fronted corporate boxes and press facilities above giving it a really classy and impressive look. Not all facilities were open or accessible today, although the refreshment kiosks in the concourse were. The same height of seating stretches around the remaining three sides, covered with a continuous grey coloured metallic structure with blue and yellow coloured seats, and with "THE DONS" spelt out along the seating in the East Stand. The new flats build as part of the development closely line the east and south stands, and the ground has a compact feel and is sensibly sized, and one can imagine that some excellent atmosphere will be generated when the stadium is full. No programmes were produced for today's fixture.
Arguably, this was a rather strange fixture for AFC Wimbledon to arrange, as with all due respect to the visitors, it is hard to imagine less attractive opposition for a pre-season friendly, being a low profile club based in the north and from a division below. Perhaps this was intentional, to keep the test event low key. AFC Wimbledon finished in 19th place in League One, four points clear of the relegation zone, whilst Scunthorpe came dangerously close to falling out of the EFL trapdoor, finishing in 22nd place in League Two, just one place and three points clear of the relegation zone.
Kick-off was delayed by almost half an hour as the Scunthorpe team coach only arrived at the ground at around 2.30. On an overcast afternoon, with rain arriving in the second half, this was a game that Wimbledon dominated in terms of possession and chances, but the final score reflected that they just could not put their chances away. They took the lead as early as the fourth minute, when they were awarded a penalty following a free kick delivered into the box, and Scunthorpe keeper Tom Billson fouled Jack Rudoni close to the byline. Ollie Palmer drilled the spot kick into the bottom left corner to give the home side the lead. Scunthorpe had a great chance to equalise on 25 minutes when the ball was won in midfield by Ryan Loft, who ran clear of the defence and through on goal, but his eventual shot was saved by the legs of Wimbledon keeper Nik Tzanev. But the visitors did score on the half hour, when Harry Bunn drilled a low shot towards the bottom left corner, only for a Wimbledon defender to deflect the ball to send it into the right corner of the net. And on 39 minutes, Scunthorpe were awarded a penalty of their own when Henry Lawrence fouled Bunn from behind as he was striking at goal. Loft struck the penalty kick straight down the middle.
The second half saw Wimbledon create plenty of chances, forcing the visiting keeper into plenty of decent saves, but they just couldn't find a way through, and Scunthorpe had a couple of decent chances too, but there were no further goals in the second half. For a friendly, this was an entertaining game to watch, but it will surely be a concern for Wimbledon that, despite their decent approach play, they were not able to put the ball away in open play, and indeed, in their seven first team friendly fixtures, they have only scored once from open play, that goal coming against Hampton & Richmond. There will obviously be plenty for Scunthorpe to be pleased with, coming back well against higher grade opposition, and they looked well organised throughout as well as posing a threat on the counter.
Line-ups:
AFC Wimbledon: Nik Tzanev, Nesta Guinness-Walker, Will Nightingale (Dan Csoka), Ben Heneghan (Paul Kalambayi), Henry Lawrence (Cheye Alexander), George Marsh, Alex Woodyard (Anthony Hartigan) Jack Rudoni (Alfie Bendle), Luke McCormick, Ayoub Assal, Ollie Palmer (Aaron Pressley).
Scunthorpe United: Billson, Kenyon, Taft, Onariase, Green (Wilson, 63), Beestin (Shrimpton, 85), Loft (Jessop, 85), Thompson (O'Malley, 78), Bunn (Perry, 71), O'Neill (Hallam, 71), Pugh (Rowe, 78)
Short video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
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