AFC Wimbledon v Guiseley AFC (Saturday 6th November 2021)
It was off to Plough Lane, the site of the old Wimbledon greyhound stadium rather than the original 'crazy gang' Plough Lane, for the first round proper. The visitors were Guiseley AFC, The Lions, from the National League North who have a pretty decent FA Cup recored these days with a number of first round appearances in recent years as well as reaching the second round in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
AFC Wimbledon, of course, the fans-owned "phoenix" club founded in 2002 but with a clear claim to have won the FA Cup in 1988. The Dons are a League One club at present and moved to their spiritual Plough Lane home and a mightily impressive new stadium in late 2020. The site of the old Plough Lane is marked just round the corner with an interesting sculpture visualising the 1988 cup triumph.
Martin, a fellow ground-hopper, was sat next to me and it was a pleasure to meet him. An Arsenal fan (I did briefly mention the 2011 League Cup final), Martin has never seen a 0-0 draw. I imagine he's seen plenty of 1-0's but I did rather take the historic 0-0 claim to be the commentator's curse for a bore-draw on this late Autumn Saturday afternoon.
Prior to the 3pm kick-off there was a perfectly observed moment of remembrance, the laying of wreaths and The Last Post.
A contingent of about 100 Guiseley fans provided fantastic support to the visitors all through the match. Something about "soft Southerners" cropped up a few times. Fair enough....I did bring gloves.
It was a lively first period with no shortage of effort and determination from both teams and the occasional moment of finesse from The Dons. A crowd of 4,973 was treated to an exhibition of the long throw with Guiseley having at least two expert-long-throwers. The Dons pressure was building throughout the first '45 but with infrequent end-product, to the frustration of the home support, and the Lions roaring forward on the break for a couple of half chances.
After 43 minutes, Martin the 0-0 prophet, was let off the hook when Wimbledon took the lead with a strike from Ollie Palmer, rounding the 'keeper for a neat finish. There was a sniff of a penalty for Guiseley just before the break, but nothing doing, 1-0 at half-time.
The guys from Yorkshire were by far the better team in the second half. Other than a really slick move from Wimbledon on the hour mark it was generally Guiseley pressuring the home goalmouth. Yes, plenty of long throws to trouble the Wimbledon defence, a few goalmouth scrambles and several half-chances. Guiseley were giving this a right go and could easily have snatched an equaliser. It was not to be. 1-0 to the home side is how it finished but the Lions can take pride in their impressive second half performance.
A couple of other highlights....Haydon the Womble put on a good show as did the @bythehornsbrew tap room next to the ground.
It's Wimbledon into the second round draw, but Guiseley can take massive credit for a strong showing.
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