Thursday 30 October 2003   
AFC Wimbledon 4 - 0 Godalming & Guildford

Terry Missing influential players at both ends of the pitch, the Dons cruised comfortably to a 4-0 victory over Godalming & Guildford. Jamie Angell replaced the suspended Danny Oakins, Paul Scott made his first league start in place of the injured Joe Sheerin and Steve Gibson was restored to the right-back role.

Lee Carroll did as much in the first four minutes as he had all game at Chipstead, holding on to an easy shot from distance.

The breakthrough nearly came in bizarre circumstances as Ryan Gray chased down a back-pass. Arjuna Adlam blasted the ball off Gray's shin and it narrowly missed the near post.

Adlam produced a fine one-handed save to tip over an Matt Everard header on 11 minutes, but the referee blew for a foul.

On 14 minutes the Dons went in front. Gray flicked on a long ball and Cooper collected the ball wide in the area and almost on the byline. The angle seemed impossible, but he curled the ball across goal and in off the far post for a very well-taken goal.
Carroll came out well to clear with his feet shortly afterwards and seemed to be establishing a good command of his area.

In front of him, fellow home debutant Michael Harvey came into the game more as it progressed. As he overlapped Gray, his cross was flicked across his own goal by a G&G head, giving Scott a free header from distance but he was unable to test Adlam.
On 22 minutes the Dons doubled their lead with the best goal of the night. Gavin Bolger peeled off on the left wing and looped a delightful cross into the box for Lee Sidwell to run on at pace and steer the ball home he was so well picked out there was no defender anywhere near him.

Wimbledon continued to press as half-time approached. Everard headed a Gray free-kick just wide and Stanley was lucky to escape a clear use of his hand to control the ball.

Adlam slide out of his area still holding the ball under pressure in an exact replica of the situation in which Paul Heald was dismissed at Watford two years ago, but Mr Wright did not deem the offence worthy of a card. Gray's free-kick and Bolger's follow-up shot were both blocked.

The final chance of the half fell to Jamie Angell as the centre-back attempted a Brazilian style volley with both feet off the ground, but Adlam held on to the ball.
In the second-half the Dons rarely left second-gear. Carroll seemed in complete command of his area and the back four were rarely troubled but there were few sustained periods of pressure or possession as G&G harried and chased.

Angell slipped to allow Gorman sight of goal, but Carroll pushed his low shot wide. Harvey, Scott and Gray have all apparently been friends for years and they combined well to terrorise the right-side of G&G's defence. One fine move on 68 minutes ended in a reasonable penalty shout as Scott dragged the ball back and was tripped, but nothing was given.

It proved to be the last piece of interplay between the three as Darren Dobinson came on for Gray and Ryan Luffman replaced Scott a minute later. Luffman battled well on the edge of the box to feed Bolger. He teed the ball up for Favata, whose fierce shot went wide. Both Luffman and Scott performed adequately in the Joe Sheerin role, but the Dons missed the skipper's ability to hold the ball up and their midfield play frequently seemed more disjointed as a result. Andy Sullivan replaced Sidwell on 75 minutes.

On 77 minutes Cooper elected to eschew his traditional daisycutter in favour of a high free-kick, setting off from an absurd Roberto-Carlos-length run-up, but his shot was headed away.

There followed a bizarre sequence in which Bolger went down under a strong challenge, Luffman was poleaxed on the edge of box and Cooper was tripped, but the referee waved play on three times.

On 87 minutes Sullivan put the seal on the victory with another well-worked goal. He started the move with a one-two with Gibson. As his cross was cleared, Bolger sent it wide for Harvey to swing an excellent ball in over Luffman and the centre backs to the far post. Sullivan killed it dead with one touch and hammered it home with the second.
In injury-time, the injured Bolger made it four. Having complained in the programme that he never scored, he took a quick free-kick as Adlam was arranging his wall, looping the ball under the bar and in with the keeper flapping.

A workmanlike performance with isolated moments of excellent passing made the Dons good value for a 14th straight league win this season. The only worry came as both Gibson and Bolger struggled to the conclusion of the match rather gingerly following collisions with opposition players. Both were expected to be fit again for Saturday's trip to Reading Town.

Dons (4-4-2): Carroll; Gibson, Angell, Everard, Harvey; Sidwell (Sullivan 75), Favata, Bolger, Gray (Dobinson 69); Cooper, Scott (Luffman 69).
Not used: Hodge, Taylor.
Booked: Bolger.
Goals: Cooper 14, Sidwell 22, Sullivan 87, Bolger 90.

Godalming & Guildford (4-4-2):Adlam; Jones, Munro, Clarke, Elliott; Stanley, Mariner, Davis, Chandiram (Gorman 53); Newman, Kay (Anson 73).
Not used: Holloway, Dear, Hodgson.
Booked: Mariner, Elliott.

Attendance: 2,724