Wimbledon emerged from this crucial game with a far easier victory than the scoreline suggests. Terry Brown had indicated that he wanted to make no changes from the eleven that won so comfortably at Harrow Borough, but injuries to Jason Goodliffe and Jake Leberl saw them sitting out the game, with Marcus Gayle and Rob Quinn coming in. Horsham had their injury problems too, which apparently led them to put out a team with five players packed into midfield and only one up front, and a side that generally lacked the height to trouble the Dons defenders.

From the off, the Dons dominated. Daniel Webb seemed to win almost every challenge in the air, other than the ones for which the referee gave free-kicks against him. Perhaps referees think that he can't possibly win so many headers without fouling in some way? With Luis Cumbers feeding off him and Tony Finn taking on his full-back whenever he could, the attack looked dangerous in the early stages. But the first real incident was an odd one. Karl Beckford took the ball to the corner flag, lingered too long in releasing it to Chris Hussey, and so lost it. As the ball was cleared to the other end of the pitch, Beckford made it plain that he was struggling, and he was substituted, after only a quarter of an hour, with what looked like a thigh injury.

Enter Robin Shroot, fresh back from Harrow Borough and ready to play after puzzlingly missing the game at Harrow the previous Saturday. He quickly settled into his stride, and gave a good account of himself, especially when you bear in mind that he was the victim of a shocking tackle soon after entering the fray. But more of him later.

Wimbledon took the lead halfway through the first half. After a typical exchange between Luke Garrard and Finn, Finn cut inside and delivered a left-footed and rather innocuous cross towards the middle of the goal. But Luis Cumbers had got ahead of his marker and in front of Paul Seuke, and up he popped to head the ball into the empty net. It's a long time since a Dons player made such a run in the box to such good eftect - and that made the goal all the more welcome.

Horsham tried to get back into the game, but to little effect. Only ex-Don Lewis Taylor made any inroads at all, surging up and down the pitch and getting beyond the sole striker in a bid to threaten the Wimbledon defence. But he got little support, and it was a lonely path he trudged for most of the evening. Horsham's only sniff of a goal came late in the half when a mis-hit shot went across the penalty area and within a few inches of the outstretched foot of an onrushing attacker.

The second half was much the same as the first; when Wimbledon did concede possession, they did so in parts of the pitch where Horsham couldn't hurt them. While both teams played smart, attractive football and tried to attack, it was the Dons who looked the more dangerous. The second goal wasn't long in coming. Antony “Beckenbauer"” Howard strode imperiously out of defence and directed a 30-yard pass with the outside of his right boot, straight to Romone Rose, who was on for Cumbers for the second half. Rose doesn't know the team well enough yet, or he might have been stunned into immobility by the quality of the pass. Instead, he cut inside and hit a low cross to Webb, but Webb's first touch lacked the silky skills of Howard, and the ball fell towards Shroot and Sam Hatton. Hatton had the sense to realise that he might well be offside, and left Shroot to put the ball away calmly to mark his return with a well-taken goal.

The remainder of the half was a formality. Horsham managed no real threat to the Dons goal, with only one shot on target, even after introducing Lee Farrell, who was presumably not fully fit as he had been on the bench. So, Wimbledon recorded their second successive clean sheet away from home. In both cases they had put two goals past a former Dons keeper - although with eight people having donned the gloves for Wimbledon this season, there can't be many teams who don't have a former Don between the sticks nowadays. The win was impressive. Among other things, it underlined the strength in depth of the squad, whereas Horsham, with an injury list of similar length, seemed unable to draw on equivalent resources.

For Wimbledon, Shroot made a good return, especially given that he was handicapped from an early stage by an ankle injury from a very late tackle that merited a booking, but didn't get one; he didn't see the game out, and was replaced by Steve Ferguson five minutes before the end. Chris Hussey also continued to perform well, having had to face a tricky winger for the first time since his current run in the first team began; he did well and will no doubt have learned from the experience.

With two difficult games won, the Dons could now turn to successive games against teams in the bottom four - but recently they have struggled to win such games. A weakened Chelmsford side lost at home, leaving Terry Brown very much aware of the importance of turning up the pressure, and the only way to do that was to win those two matches. And so to Saturday, and Leyton.

[ --- AFC Wimbledon v Wealdstone programme 19 Feb 2008]