Yeeeeesssssss! Get in!
Right, now I've got that out the way, this is roughly what happened:
0-30 mins: Nervy, edgy stuff, Dons passing game edging it against the more direct approach of the home side. Better (half) chances fall to the Dons.
30-39 mins: Dons passing game stops working so well. Fleetwood gain the upper hand but still without really testing Seb Brown
39 mins: Fleetwood's hard work undone by gifting Luke Moore a great chance - which he takes with minimum fuss, though from our terrace, the ball seems to take an age before it sneaks inside the post.
39-65 mins: Goal deflates Fleetwood, we play like Barcelona. Mo scores a second after a pull-back from Luke Moore. Could, possibly should, have got more.
65-90 mins: Fleetwood wake up, we sit back a bit, Cod Army finds its voice, and it all gets a little nervous towards the end. Seb makes a couple of very good saves.
Other notes: Ref was a homer. Our players got booked for minor fouls, celebrations, their players got booked for G.B.H. Excellent atmosphere generated by 800-odd visiting Dons fans in crowd of 4,112. Like their team, Cod Army only really got going in the last 20 mins or so, and might find themselves in trouble for lighting a flare in their terrace.
Player ratings:
Brown - 8. Two excellent saves in second half (possibly three but it was too far away to tell). Handling very secure, but kicking still needs work.
Hatton - 5. And that's being generous. Seriously, this was as bad as I've ever seen him. Too many casually misplaced passes, not so tight defensively, and got booked towards the end.
Johnson - 8. Another classy display by Brett, even after having to switch to left back following Gwillim's injury.
Stuart - 9. Immense. I'd have had Yakubu in the team rather than Stuart so thank god I'm not picking the team.
Gwillim - 8. Very solid defensively, though still not looking the most accomplished coming forward. Went off injured in the second half - possibly still suffering the effects of Gregan's assault on him at the end of the first half
Toks - 7. Had some good runs, though distribution not always perfect. Suffered a bit from having to cover for Hatton a lot
Gregory - 8. Very solid game from Gregs. Never panicked in posession, closed Fleetwood down well, kept things ticking over very nicely. I always felt confident whenever he or Wellard had the ball, that we would retain possession and the next pass would arrive safely at its chosen destination.
Wellard - 9. A revelation. Even when things were getting frenetic in the middle, he always seemed to have that extra time on the ball to pick a pass. And put himself about, covering a hell of a lot of ground.
Luke Moore - 9. Always works his socks off to close down the opposition - which proved especially useful against the two fat lumps they had in central defence. Took the all important first goal very nicely, made the second, and was a constant thorn in Fleetwood's side
Kaid Mohamed - 8. Lively, skilful, scored a good goal. Not all his tricks and flicks came off, but, like everyone else, really put in a shift
Danny Kedwell - 9. Another inspirational performance by the skipper. Constantly barged and buffeted by their centre backs, but never took a backward step. His game had everything apart from a goal.
Subs: Yakubu (on for Gwillim) - 7. Came on at centre-back with Brett Johnson switching to the left. Looked strong - and had to be during the last part of the game when Fleetwood were throwing everything at us
Minshull (on for Toks) - 6. Sent on to shore things up in midfield, did OK
Jolley (on for Luke Moore) - 6. No time to make an impact.
Now I've read that through, I seem to have made a very exciting evening sound not so exciting. But really, we did look like Barcelona at times in the second half. And really, our player of the year had an absolute shocker. And really, Wellard put himself about a bit. It all made the pain of the M6 worthwhile.
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