Match Review: AFC Wimbledon 2-1 Brighton

Whenever you hear about AFC Wimbledon, it’s of a plucky little club who have battled against the odds to reach the third tier of English football.

Having been founded by supporters, they are also supposed to know exactly how to look after fans. Better than any other club in the country, some might say.

Well, not us. Whacking your prices to £20 for a pre-season friendly because Premier League opponents are in town isn’t a great way to treat supporters. A great way to treat supporters is – whisper this quietly – what MK Dons did when we played them in the Championship. £10 a ticket, kids for a quid. Lovely.

What we learnt at the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Saturday then was that Wimbledon perhaps aren’t the fan-friendly club they are made out to be. They are as opportunistic as any other club in the country and more than happy to fleece supporters.

We also learnt – and whisper this quietly as well, if the backlash we got on Twitter for reporting that he kept missing good opportunities is anything to go by – that Jurgen Locadia might not be very good. The Dutch striker, it’s fair to say, hasn’t exactly looked like a £15m player in his seven months at the Albion so far.

Many supporters were hoping that would change this season. With a full pre-season under his belt and half a year to have settled following his move from PSV Eindhoven, the consensus was that he’d usurp Glenn Murray as first choice striker for 2018-19.

That consensus might have to be thrown out of the window after this performance. Everything was in place for Locadia to impress. He was up against a pretty cumbersome defence from two divisions below and he had Anthony Knockaert, Solly March and Pascal Gross to supply him.

Four chances came Locadia’s way, all from his pace and willingness to get in behind which was at least one positive. Dale Stephens’ floated pass created the first but Locadia fluffed the one-on-one, allowing Tom King to save.

The second saw March head the ball into the box to Locadia who was well placed but his snapshot cleared both the crossbar and the stand. It was last seen on radar flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

The third saw him again hit a one-on-one straight at King and the fourth was dragged wide. Locadia’s afternoon came to a premature end early in the second half. A slide tackle from Will Nightingale saw Locadia hit the deck and he immediately signalled to the bench that he wanted to come off. It was rather like watching a horse being pulled up by a jockey when they know it isn’t going to win. Locadia clearly wasn’t going to score, so he might as well get himself out of there.

That wasn’t the only injury either. Shane Duffy’s first game after having summer groin surgery was over inside of 30 minutes as he left the field to be replaced by Ben White. Wimbledon were 1-0 up by that point, Joe Pigott having collected Liam Trotter’s knockdown before easily turning Ben Barclay and beating the Albion’s new goalkeeper David Button.

Button looked to be at fault for the second when he was beaten to a loose ball by Kwesi Appiah who poked home with 30 minutes played. Brighton were much better in the second half and deservedly pulled one back from the penalty spot, Oliver Norwood converting after Locadia’s replacement, Aaron Connolly was bought down in the box.

The Albion spent the final 15 minutes virtually camped in Wimbledon’s half but couldn’t force an equaliser, the closest they came being when Connolly bought another good save out of King after bringing down a long ball from Danny Mandroiu.

Connolly looked lively in his cameo appearance while Anthony Knockaert had a probing afternoon and Beram Kayal looked a class above in the middle of the park. But other than that, it was your typical pre-season fare, with the undoubted aim of the game just to get more minutes into the legs of the players, which was achieved by and large.

It certainly wasn’t worth £20. And Locadia certainly didn’t look worth £15m. Let’s hope he proves us wrong.