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After a long time of inactivity the Norsedons siet is finally up and running again. To start with I've posted a few photos from a couple of years back. Enjoy. There will deffo be more in the future.
AFC Wimbledon vs. Ashford 5-1
- 2004/08/20
Written by: Ian Hidden
'Twas a warm and pleasant Saturday in South West London (if you are a Londoner) or North East Surrey (if you live in Kingston!) and the expectation of a tough opening match in our first game in the Ryman League, allied to the weather and the knowledge that HP was over to bleed the capital's pubs dry, made for an afternoon of great promise at the Meadow of Kings. I tooted at HP as I tried to park in the ground but was waved away by another Nog sounding chap by the name of Erik 'Give me your money' Samuelson! Once parked up I entered the ground after being impressed (yet again) by the quality shown by HP's newly printed AFCW shirts. Fortunately, he refrained from showing me the splendid presents that had been obtained for the lovely Hilde, possibly acknowledging that there is a time and a place for everything. Then again, I doubt that it had been a conscious decision given the amount of brain cells that had doubtless been destroyed through downing copious pints of hop flavoured nectar!! The West Bank were in good voice from about 15 minutes before kick off, complete with the usual ditties which were supplemented by a couple of antisocial yobbos with drums! The players run out. Ashford Town looked like a lime jelly with vanillla ice cream. Definitely a kit from the Littlewoods catalogue, a point that was not missed by the massed ranks of witty poets behind their keeper! Danny Naisbett leads out our heroes wearing last season's red strip, while the outfield players have the pleasure of the new slinky style blue shirts, shorts and socks. The stadium goes wobbly for a minute or two as the passion of 3095 fans spills out through cheering and shouting and clapping (plus those bloody drums!). As we kick off (and we did it very well), I started feeling a little apprehensive. Finally realising that we were not playing in the CCL any more and the teams against us this season were much better than your run of the mill CCL sides. Sure, we had been promoted and remained at the same level, while all our opponents had either been relegated (in effect) or moved leagues with the restructuring. Surely the Ryman was going to be an unpredictable league with so many new teams? So it proved. After we had been pressing for what seemed like an hour, our visitors had the nerve to score! Admittedly, the player was offside by two yards and handled the ball twice, but this wasn't in the script. Cheeky buggers and some who had not seen the friendlies might have been forgiven for remembering the first home game in the CCL. However, it was not to be, as two minutes later, the youngest of our servants, Richard Butler, scored an equally scrappy goal, but without using his hands at all! Shortly after that, with chants of "dodgy keeper" still ringing in his ears, Jamie "make us a suit" Taylor (sic) scored with a sublime volley that went in off the foot of the post. Cue eruptions from all around the ground. More was to come as the eldest servant, Steve Butler, nodded in a cross from right in front of the keeper. 3-1 and the wind was truly blown out of the collective sails of the Ashford players. Halftime came and went, with lots of naughty people leaving the West Bank to gather at the Athletics End, despite a request from Phillo, to stay where they were on police advice. This must have been a strange request for the few fans who had finally seen the light and arrived from MK to swear allegiance to the mighty Dons. After all, at the NHS, they were used to sitting where they liked, when they liked! Second half was more of the same but less so, in that Ashford didn't really have any fight left and were starting to defend with damage limitation in mind. It didn't work though as Butler jnr, scored another to make it 4-1 and JT scored the goal of the game following a flowing passing move of speed and style when he hit the ball from the corner of the box first time and bent the ball with the outside of the right foot straight into the top corner as the keeper watched, helplessly. More eruptions from players and fans alike. As a reward, the DA removed Butler for Randall and JT for Joe Sheerin, the latter almost scoring with his first touch with a header from a corner. At this stage, the players were strolling a bit and the Ashford lads looked mighty relieved about it, content to watch Ursell display some of the tricks which have marked him out as a crowd pleaser and, possibly a target for some of the neanderthal defenders he will doubtless encounter this season! So, 5-1 in our first game in a "higher" league. Same old, same old. I overheard comments that when HP attends the games we never lose. Well, maybe so, but as we haven't lost a competitive game since February 2003, that could also be true of a fair number of our Wayward Wombes!! But, despite the euphoria felt by the vast majority, there were still some who looked at the negative side. Why certain players were missing (injured in some cases, fringe players in others and a couple that probably are good enough at the level we aspire to play at), why didn't we press on and score ten, where were the other fans as there wasn't a capacity crowd and so on. From my perspective (which is a sober one by the way!), we were pretty dynamic. Whilst Ashford may not be the best team in this league, the other teams will be taking note. And so they should. Just in case HP happens to be visiting and they haven't got enough beer in the clubhouse!!
Written by: Hans Petter Bakke
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AFC Wimbledon vs. Ashford 5-1
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After a very long, inactive period the Norsedons site has been redone so that it is easier to update.
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