1947
Saturday, 13 December 1947
Isthmian League
 
Ilford
?
1 - 0
Wimbledon

An unchanged selection was made for the trip to Lynn Road in search of Isthmian League points, but Ron Head failed to recover from a shoulder injury, so Jim Smith, himself still recovering from a broken cheek-bone sustained at Clapton, bravely played through the pain barrier, although he was unsurprisingly not as forceful as usual.

Ilford relied on swinging long passes out to their wingers, but Maggs and Cousins were both in fine form and, on the odd occasion they were beaten, Haydock was solid in goal. Cousins was unusually barracked by a section of the crowd, but did not let it affect his game. Wimbledon almost got off to a sensational start, Green racing onto a pass from Stannard and cutting inside before shooting, but a defender got back at the last second and deflected the shot for a corner. Tietjen was then forced to rush from his goal to clear the ball off the foot of Rhodes. Ilford finally settled and a cross from Smith gave Regan a good chance, but Haydock was alert and cleared it as the forward shaped to shoot. Back up the other end Stannard got through, but could only direct his shot across goal.

Ilford pressed for fifteen minutes after the break and Haydock had to deal with shots from both wingers, then did well to turn a long shot from Fleet over the bar for a corner. Rhodes then mistimed his shot when Green’s centre left him with only the keeper to beat and Thomas beat off challenges from Fleet and Randall but the keeper saved his effort at the second attempt. With fifteen minutes remaining Ilford broke the deadlock, Smith again crossing for Regan, this time the forward made no mistake with a header that left Haydock flailing. The visitors stepped on the gas in the final minutes and Ilford were lucky to survive three opportunities for the Dons to draw level. Green’s corner was headed goalwards by Rhodes and the Ilford keeper could only parry the ball out to Stannard, who shot back through a crowd of players, but Kent got across and slashed the ball just wide of the post for another corner. Green then cut into the centre and drew the backs, but with the keeper out of position could only shoot across an empty net. In the last minute Tietjen knocked down a shot from Thomas straight to Stannard, but the marksman shot wide.