Reasons to be cheerful - a play-off preview

Right now the world is a very pleasant place for us Wombles. Admittedly, that could all change by 9.45pm on Friday, but for now we can put all negative thoughts to one side and reflect on a successful season while dreaming of play-off glory (without tempting fate and actually predicting play-off glory, naturally). So here, in no particular order, are my reasons for Dons fans everywhere to sit back, crack open their beverage of choice (mmm, turps) and feel good about the world (and that's without even mentioning nice weather, bank holidays or some posh bint marrying an even posher bloke):

1. We made the play-offs. Our season is still alive, and we're potentially three games away from league football. If you'd been offered this at the start of the season, you'd have taken it, wouldn't you?
2. Not only did we make the play-offs, but we came second in the league with a highly creditable tally of 90 points and played a lot of good football along the way. Only the financial might of Crawley finished above us (and before you start complaining about how unlucky we were to be competing against Crawley, it's worth reflecting that it could have been worse. In a league that includes former league clubs such as Luton, Wrexham, Grimsby, Darlington, York, Mansfield and even Cambridge, we can count ourselves lucky that for one reason or another, more of them couldn't mount an irresistible challenge for the play-off places).
3. That second place means we face Fleetwood. I'm not especially delighted that it is Fleetwood, but I'm more relieved that it's not Luton, Wrexham, or York.
4. Luton have to play Wrexham. I'm with the bookies in thinking that Luton are favourites to go up, but I'd give Wrexham as much chance as anyone of upsetting Luton over two games, having taken four points off them in the regular season. Hopefully Wrexham's off-pitch financial worries will have a unifying, rather than distracting, effect on the team. At least until the final, should we happen to get there as well.
5. With the arguable exception of Sammy Moore, our first choice eleven is fit and raring to go, and stronger than at any time this season. When we scraped a nil-nil at home to Luton, their star player was Andy Drury, who has since left the Hatters for the tractor boys of Ipswich. Meanwhile, the Dons have been strengthened by the return of Brett Johnson and Lee Minshull from injury, the return of a rejuvenated Ricky Wellard from his loan spell at Cambridge, and the acquisition of Kaid Mohammed from Bath. So while you can argue that Luton have got weaker, the Dons have only got stronger, to the point where, even without the injured Sammy Moore, it's very possible that only one out of James Mulley, Rashid Yussuff, Ricky Wellard and Christian Jolley will be in the starting eleven. That's a lot of firepower to come off the bench should it be needed.
6. Our run-in, which before the Wrexham game had me thinking that we could mount a challenge for the title itself, wasn't too onerous. Having won six and drawn one of the last seven, we should be full of confidence going in to the play-offs, without having endured too many tough, draining contests in order to acquire that confidence.
7. Play-off playing conditions. If you could choose playing conditions that would suit the Dons' style, it would be warm weather and a good playing surface. I didn't go to Fleetwood in January (travelling to an evening game in NW Lancashire in the middle of winter would seriously threaten my status as an armchair fan) but judging by the highlights on AFC Wimbledon TV, their pitch looks a decent size, and will hopefully be in good condition on Friday night. Moreover, with no more games at "The Cherry Red Records Fans' Stadium Kingsmeadow" until the home leg, our pitch should, with some tender loving care, be in good condition. And IF we do make it to the play-off final, the pitch at Eastlands is all but guaranteed to be in excellent condition.

So there you have it. We have four days when pretty much everything is just fine. We can approach Friday's game knowing that we've had a great season already, and while the Fleetwood encounters will provide an incredibly tough test (our haul of four points against them during the regular season flattered us greatly and could easily have been just the one), we couldn't be in much better shape approaching them. So enjoy it - either because we could be on the brink of something great, or because we could end up being beaten by Fleetwood, in which case these four days will be as good as it gets for a while...