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Game of the Week – Ebbsfleet United vs AFC Wimbledon
Thursday 18 November 2010
While a possible tie against foes Milton Keynes Dons has been extinguished for another year as the League One club crashed out to Stevenage at Stadium MK in their ‘new towns battle’ on Tuesday, AFC Wimbledon take on Ebbsfleet United, hoping for further progression in the FA Cup.
Ebbsfleet have a story of their own to tell and it is worth repeating. Bought online by over 25,000 participants in the MyFootballClub venture in 2008, the club was relegated from the Conference National last season and currently sits in the playoff places in their bid to return. The diminishing interest from the general public has had a knock-on effect on Head Coach Liam Daish, who must frequently wish that he only needed the approval of one or two bosses to make key decisions, as opposed to the major dilemmas facing the club going to a fan vote. There is a frequently made jibe about football supporters that they always think they can make a better decision than a skilled professional, and while proper involvement from genuine fans is something to be encouraged, there is a good case that the interference from outsiders has done some serious damage to what used to be Gravesend and Northfleet. This writer’s sympathy lies with those who stood in the rain for years beforehand. When the last of the casuals drip away they, along with Daish, will have to pick up the pieces.
Proper involvement from genuine fans – this is the life, soul and essence on which the reincarnation of Wimbledon FC was built. Their rise through the leagues has been steady since 2002/03, and they have built on their excellent debut season in the Conference National to head the division at the time of writing. Having been a relatively wealthy club at every level prior to step five, they now need to call upon a collective spirit for which the original WFC and their ‘Crazy Gang’ in particular were notorious. The addition of former Barnet stalwart and defensive marshal Ismail Yakubu has clearly improved their side – check out the Bees’ defensive struggles this season and it becomes clear that they miss him somewhat. He has another key asset in his favour – a Conference winners’ medal, which is good experience for the Dons to have on board for the rest of the season.
A key to this game may well be that Ebbsfleet travel better than they perform on their own turf. Their weathering of the early storm in the first encounter enabled the confidence of 7 unbeaten away games to see them through to what was on balance a fairly comfortable draw. It is hard to imagine Wimbledon and their superior personnel having to withstand an intense bombardment from the first whistle, and it is likely that Fleet’s best opportunity was indeed in the first encounter, as is often the case for a lower division side. Their meeting with destiny may well be reality come Friday morning.
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