Rotherham United 1–1 AFC Wimbledon
A point is a point is a point.
A point on the road. Not thrilling. Not a disaster. Somewhere between “that’ll do pig” and “we needed more,” which is basically the story of our season.
A week on from the sucker punch at home to Doncaster, we headed to Rotherham hoping for a response. We got one. Eventually. After a bit of weathering, a bit of wobble, and one properly decent cross.
The team
Two changes from the Doncaster defeat. Patrick Bauer came in for the suspended Joe Lewis, while Myles Hippolyte replaced Callum Jancock. Sensible. Functional. No drama.
Junior Nkeng kept his place after another encouraging showing last time out. At this point, he is not just “one for the future.” He is one for right now.
The match
Rotherham started like a side that had been told to make it uncomfortable. High press. Early corners. A lot of balls into areas where you have to make decisions quickly.
Nathan Bishop made those decisions. Calmly. Early saves kept things level while we found our feet. Not spectacular. Just reliable. He needed that. We needed that.
Nkeng was our outlet. Again. He carried the ball, took people on, and looked like someone who had decided he was not here to make up the numbers.
Chances were scarce. Effort was not. The game had that feel of two sides cancelling each other out while quietly waiting for someone else to blink.
Did Rotherham blink in the second half? Not quite.
They came out fast again and this time they made it count. A throw-in. A bit of space. Kaleta wriggled free and Zak Jules was left unmarked six yards out. One nil. Too easy.
For a while, it looked like that might be that. We looked stretched without quite looking broken.
Then the subs came. Four (4) of them. A roll of the dice from Johnnie Jackson that said “if we are going to lose you are not going to blame it on my substitutions strategy being too timid.” Tilley made his second debut, and Nelson his first. New blood badly needed.
And it worked.
Ten minutes from time, Steve Seddon delivered a proper cross. First time. Dangerous. Marcus Browne headed home. Simple football. The kind we sometimes forget exists, when we are too focused on utilising Reeves (C) as our sideways and backwards pivot.
The last few minutes were chaos-adjacent. Crosses flashed. Counters fizzled. Nine minutes of added time arrived, which felt unnecessary.
Nobody found a winner. Probably fair.
What the fans are saying
WUP ranged from “good point away” to “why do we always make life harder than it needs to be” and on to “sack the board”
Wombles Had a Dream spent most of the game by the bar asking fellow away fans if they had heard any more rumours they can add to their podcast. For those interested: here is the latest that we beat them to sharing.
The 9 Years team were feeling philosophical after the game - wondering out loud if its possible to be “a good club in a bad world”. If anyone knows what that actually means please let us know.
Womble of the Week: Junior Nkeng.
Again.
He gave us an out ball. He gave us energy. He gave Rotherham something to think about. For a young player still learning the level, he looks remarkably comfortable being a problem for defenders.
Not perfect. But fearless. We like fearless.
Closing thoughts
A point away at Rotherham is not to be sniffed at despite their league position and form. Especially after last week. But it does leave that familiar feeling that we are always one gear short of making things comfortable.
Still, we responded. We changed it. We did not fold. This team will generally fight when needed, which can on occasions make up for a lack of skill and creativity.
On to Port Vale. Quickly. And we hate to say it but it feels like a “must win”. We need 6 more victories in league to secure safety, and against the team marooned in 24th place is the perfect place to start.
WombleWorld
Robin Bedford has already started folding the away kit while quietly muttering about how many socks you actually need for a Tuesday night in Port Value.