Reading 1–2 AFC Wimbledon
After reading Reading, we are into Chapter two of Johnnie Jackson and Winning Streak.
Fans had already brushed up on the form guide, skim read the midweek penalty shootout, and settled into the away end ready for the next chapter. As it turned out, the Royals never quite got past the blurb, while Wimbledon read the room, read the game, underlined their intent with a second straight League One win.
The Team:
The line up:
Isaac Ogundere
Joe Lewis
Antwoine Hackford
Matty Stevens
Ali Smith
Marcus Browne
Ryan Johnson
Jake Reeves (c)
Steve Seddon
Nathan Asiimwe
Nathan Bishop (GK)
Also Involved:
Riley Harbottle
Myles Hippolyte
Omar Bugiel
Danilo Orsi 🐴
Noticeable Absences:
Delano McCoy-Splatt returned to the realm of Not In Squad after his midweek cameo. The Phantom Zone has very strict opening hours. This time he appears to have taken Josh Kelly with him. WW sources suggest the pair last seen wandering down an interdimensional corridor at the training ground. Rumours of McCoy-Splatt’s relation to Dr Who’s Sylvester McCoy remain unconfirmed.
Enough about McCoy-Splatt tell me about The Match:
Reading threatened on the break early, but somehow contrived to miss the target. Wimbledon settled, with Nathan Asiimwe driving us up the right and standing up a textbook cross that Matty Stevens guided in before the interval.
After the restart the hosts pressed, only to meet Ryan Johnson’s blocks and a steadier midfield. A rehearsed free-kick moved through Steve Seddon and Myles Hippolyte to Marcus Browne, whose shot found the corner for a deserved second. Cue pandemonium in the away end.
There was a late scare when Lewis Wing hit a long-range rocket, but Nathan Bishop’s sharp low save in the dying moments preserved the points and sealed our first away league win of the season and our first ever at this ground.
What the fans are saying:
We trawled WUP, Twitter and the Dons Discord so you don’t have to. We found these (entirely not made up) insightful updates from the Wimbledon fan base. Names changed to prevent any potential libel.
“I came for Reading and ended up reading a love letter to back-post headers and set piece routines.
@WombleLibraryLad
“Asiimwe is playing two positions at once and charging himself rent.”
@DoubleNathanDon
“DTB update: rare unanimous vote passed. It reads ‘We like winning’.”
@FoxInTheBoxAFCW
Womble of the Week: Nathan Asiimwe (again).
He is going to win it every week at this rate. The first goal comes from his repeat running and quality delivery, and the tone of the game bent around his work on that flank. When Reading pushed, he kept offering the out-ball and still found a way to drive us up the pitch. Relentless, tidy, decisive. The standard we expect now.
Closing thoughts:
Three games into the league and we now have back-to-back wins. The spine looked secure, the wide channels productive, and the bench added thrust when it mattered. File this under “grown-up away wins” and keep reading.
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Bayzo has reportedly introduced a “clean sheet meditation” session involving three candles, a singing bowl, and telling Nathan Bishop to visualise the ball as a stray negative thought. The candles are unscented. The vibes are not.