Kingsmeadow

Saturday, 10 August 2013

AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers

Aerial shot of Kingsmeadow (Bing Maps)

Programme - £3.00

Ratings
Overall Ground Quality : 6/10
Ease of getting there : 8/10
Atmosphere : 8/10
Programme : 8/10
View of Action : 5/10
Quality of the game : 6/10
The "football" feeling : 7/10
Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10
Legroom : N/A
Surrounding area : 8/10

Overall : 57/100

Nongshim Stand

East Terrace

Main Stand

East Terrace

Tempest End

Nongshim Stand

The Kingsmeadow entrance

'Kingsmeadow'

East Terrace

Nongshim Stand

Tempest End

Main Stand

Tempest End

Nongshim Stand

Tempest End

Main Stand

Nongshim Stand

The hideous Wycombe Wanderers away kit

The water sprinkler suddenly turned on during the first half

Tempest End

Main Stand

Nongshim Stand

East Terrace

The AFC Wimbledon supporters crammed into the Tempest End

AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers
From one ‘phoenix club’ to another! It was only a week ago that we saw Newport County AFC take on Accrington Stanley in their first match in the Football League following their exile in 1988 which saw the original Newport County FC dissolve.

With most clubs struggling financially, the nightmare thought that your own team that you support could dissolve has sadly become a reality to many supporters.

The likes of AFC Rushden & Diamonds, Chester FC and FC Halifax Town to name a few all have one thing in common; they were all reformed by the supporters following the demise of their football clubs.

One of the most famous clubs to dissolve is Wimbledon. Playing in the First Division and winning the FA Cup, their decline began when they were forced to move away from their home, Plough Lane, as it was not fit for use. This resulted in a move to Selhurst Park before they were relegated from the Premier League in 2000. The biggest heartbreak of them all was the clubs proposed move to Milton Keynes. A year after the move was announced to the heavily opposed Wimbledon supporters, the FA gave the go ahead for the move to Milton Keynes. This was to be the catalyst for the newly reformed ‘phoenix club’, AFC Wimbledon which was set up by the previous supporters of the old Wimbledon FC.

Starting in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League (ninth tier in English football) they played the likes of Walton Casuals (One of our stops!) and even finished 3^rd in their first season!

Less than ten years later they found themselves promoted back to the Football League.

Adrian visited Kingsmeadow when AFC Wimbledon played Bristol Rovers in their first match in the Football League in 2011.

We left at 7:30am with the intention to visit numerous non league grounds on the way down to Kingston upon Thames.
Taking the M1 and M25, even with a quick toilet stop at Toddington services, we arrived at our first stop as early as 9:15am at Conference South side Staines Town.
Following our visit to Staines Town, we arrived at the crumbling Stompond Lane which is the home of Walton & Hersham who famously beat Brian Clough’s Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 at the Goldstone Ground in the 1973 FA Cup 1^st round proper.
From one Walton team to another, this time on the bank of the River Thames where Walton Casuals play at the ironically named Waterside Stadium.
Probably an even shorter distance than between the two Walton clubs is Molesey who play at the Walton Road which features an unusual sloping roof on their main stand which looks like it dates back to the 1970’s!
After visiting Molesey, next on our list was Metropolitan Police FC who play at the rather impressive Imber Court. Metropolitan Police in the past have had a few good runs in the FA Cup reaching the FA Cup 1^st round proper an incredible 4 times, most recently during the 2012-13 season when they were beaten 2-1 against Crawley Town at Imber Court.
With time in our favour, we chose to add another ground to our list and decided to visit Corinthian-Casuals who play at King George's Field. In 1983/84 season, Alan Pardew made 36 appearances for Corinthian-Casuals and in that time scored 5 goals before a move to Dulwich Hamlet the following season.

With all our non league visits complete, we chose to head towards Kingsmeadow. We parked up on Douglas Road and took the fairly short walk to the ground.
Upon our arrival, we took some exterior photos of the ground where we noticed Kingstonian supporters getting on their respected coach to their away visit to Canvey Island.

Only a short walk up the Kingston Road, we found a decent café called ‘Fat Boys’ where I (Ross) had the Egg, Sausage, Chips and Beans whilst Adrian went for the more adventurous Spaghetti Bolognese not forgetting our mug of tea each (Only 50p each!).
With our pre match meal and hot beverages finished we walked back to Kingsmeadow to collect our tickets. In the warm early season sunshine, we read our programmes on the grass in the car park before Adrian made the very good suggestion to go for another cup of tea at Fat Boys.
With a hint of déjà vu (...apart from only ordering tea this time), we sat in a more crowded Fat Boy’s café and absorbed the pre match atmosphere.

Once we finished our teas, we made our way back to the ground. We then went round to our turnstile (One of only two turnstiles with one of them being for away supporters!). Once we were in, I (Ross) got searched to Adrian’s humour as he didn’t and later told me I should’ve re-enacted his search at Yeovil Town!

With Adrian still laughing, we made our way round to the East Terrace where we awaited for the kick off.

Kingsmeadow has a capacity of just under 5,000 and is shared with Kingstonian. The Nongshim Stand is a newly built, covered all-seater stand behind-the-goal with 1,000 seats. The all-seater Main stand has 1,265 seats and was extended during the 2008–09 season, adding additional seats and also extending the roof to provide better protection from rain. The East Stand is a partially covered shallow terrace along the length of the pitch. AFC Wimbledon are about to commence a feasibility study regarding the best way to upgrade this area of the ground, which must meet football league standards by May 2014. The Tempest End is a covered terrace behind-the-goal where the more vocal AFC Wimbledon supporters congregate.

The game saw a strong AFC Wimbledon side completely dominate the Chairboys’ during the first half. Wycombe were unlucky to see Stuart Lewis sent off just before the Womble’s Luke Moore took the lead. The second half saw a more improved Wycombe side yet not quite as on fire as their kit. During the last few minutes, AFC Wimbledon had numerous chances and even managed to hit the crossbar.

On the final whistle, we ran back to the car before navigating our way out of the busy Kingston upon Thames and back on the M25.

When we reached the M1 we found the speed limit was set to 60mph which Adrian found frustrating yet we still managed to get home just before 7:30pm.