AFC Wimbledon v Fleetwood Town League Division 1 Football Match

I have not actually attended a football match in Wimbledon since 1988. Even then attending was part of a promise made to maytrees max, trading attending   all  Wimbledon home FA Cup  matches, in exchange  for hard studies by him for his public  examinations that year. 

In the event, 1988  turned out to be the year the old Wimbledon FC went on to win the FA Cup at Wembley by beating Liverpool FC 1-0. The football  at Wembley was far less exciting than the result and the dads on the coach back to Wimbledon celebrated with Champagne - the coach driver having announced that beer drinking on the coach was banned but  Champagne was not mentioned in the rules.

Subsequently Wimbledon left their ground in Plough Lane SW19. Their shadow club became MK Dons and took on a new ground at Milton Keynes. Wimbledon became AFC Wimbledon and their new temporary ground was at a playing field near Kingston. After joining the bottom rung of the football tier ladder AFC Wimbledon were a few years later, promoted to Division 2 of the football league. Later still their Kingston ground was sold to Chelsea FC ladies for c.£1m. The long planned move back to a brand new Plough Lane ground was achieved in Summer 2021 and  they are  now in League Division 1.

On 27th November 2021 younger brother and I, after tea and biscuits at the nearby flat of maytrees min with her boyfriend, walked the couple of miles  for the match, to the new Plough Lane stadium. The nearest train station, which we walked past, is Haydons Road on Thameslink. Passengers pouring up the platforms as we walked by, must make this part of Thameslink almost profitable.

The matchday magazine is  pictured below:

"BTPL" I gather means Back To Plough Lane. The new stadium which replaces the old greyhound racing stadium - see Former SW19 Greyhound stadium - is rather better than younger brother and I were expecting. The seating was comfortable despite the freezing weather and the match was exciting.

One Fleetwood Town player had to be stretchered off  though this may have just been a precaution. The second half of the game was extended by ten minutes as a result.

The new stadium has a capacity of 10,000 with scope for a doubling of the seating if the club is further promoted in the years ahead.

In any event there were almost 7,500 attending the match, including younger brother, who I believe much to his surprise enjoyed the the afternoon as indeed did I.

And the score? Fleetwood whose supporters had an excellent band in the away section of the stadium, scored a goal in the first half with a second disallowed for hand ball. 

The home team played rather better in the second half scoring two goals. Fleetwood then equalised so the extra ten minutes were somewhat nail-biting but a draw was the final result which was fair though Fleetwood had won their recent games against AFC Wimbledon.

A good game  in a great new stadium.

However  on 30th November   new restrictions were legislated for by Parliament inter alia  requiring facemasks to be worn in many places.  AFC Wimbledon signified that such requirements would mean that supporters attending matches, commencing I believe almost immediately, would need to social distance and wear face masks for the time being. Hopefully therefore my next visit will be after those restrictions have ceased.