Argyle 1 - 1 MK Dons

Argyle held their own against a strong MK Dons who included Banton in the starting line up.

My Player ratings

Team 1

McCormick 7 - Looked solid made a couple good saves, fluffed 1 kick but looks like the Luke of old.
Nelson 6 - Kept Banton quite in the first half, got caught a few times early second half, but he's not really a right back
Berry 7 - Impressive display at both Right and Left Back
Wotton 7 - Not really a fan olf him, BUT he had a good game.
Blanchard 7 - Staedy performance alongside Wotton
Allesandra 6 - Never really got into the game, a few glimses of skill and some ecellant passes though.
Boco 7 - Worked hard down the left showed glimses of skill, nearly scored, set up Blanchard who hit the crossbar.
Hourihane 6 - Worked hard without creating much, some good passes through the middle.
Blizzard 7 - Worked really hard shutting down the Dons midfeild and covering the back four.
Reid 5 - If he put as much effort into his finishing as he does his moaning he would score alot more. Missed a few chances, had a good shot saved by the keeper, chased down most of the time.
Morgan 8 - Though he had a very good game. No real scoring opportunities but work hard made some good runs.

Sounds promising.

Who scored?

Good result for us, against an strong attacking MK Dons side, Alan Smith played very well.

McCormick pulled off two top saves in the first half to keep us in it.

The defence coped well in the middle, although full back frailties were obvious, made worse that the Dons wingers were excellent.

Our CM's looked solid but had a tendency to sit to deep. Our starting wingers played well, Alessandra very skilful. Youngy did a good job when he came on. Vassel looked good on the right. Ryan Lane scored a beauty.

Marvin Morgan looked promising, he will do well in league 2, need to aim for him a bit more though.

Reuben Reid was my main concern, with every good moment there's 10 bad ones, he also looks slightly overweight and spent a lot of time standing and complaining.

Was great meeting Alan Smith after the game and had a chat with McCormick.

knecht wrote:

Who scored?

Ryan Lane, a 30 yard beauty that had dons fans clapping as well.

Reuben Reid's pre-season fitness regime = pasties and cider.

Sort it out fatty !!

A promising result against a much bigger team than us at present.

Wake me up when we've stopped being patronised by no mark shit like MK Franchise.

Freathy wrote:

Wake me up when we've stopped being patronised by no mark shit like MK Franchise.

The bench full of kids, there is no way that squad of players will finish above eighteenth spot,no investment from brent in the playing squad will gaurantee another dire struggle,Brent Out.

A good pre season workout against a well organised Dons side, always difficult to draw any conclusions from pre season games except we have two decent goalies at league 2 level, Morgan impressed today out of the new signings. Have serious concerns Reid will put away enough chances that may come his way given his obvious lack of killer instinct.

Sufferedsince68 wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Wake me up when we've stopped being patronised by no mark shit like MK Franchise.

The bench full of kids, there is no way that squad of players will finish above eighteenth spot,no investment from brent in the playing squad will gaurantee another dire struggle,Brent Out.

Not sure the issue is about kids on the bench more about the complete lack of footballing ambition from Harry Potter and his cronies, it's obvious Sheridan has a fairly limited budget and there is no expectation or talk of escaping league 2. But then why bother as long as you can appease the faithful long enough to wack up your hotel and maximise your group profit potential before you walk away.

Not much of a crowd though.Think we will struggle to get 6000 into HP for our first home match.JS may be a good manager in some quarters but that was not reflected in today's attendance.

Sufferedsince68 wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Wake me up when we've stopped being patronised by no mark shit like MK Franchise.

The bench full of kids, there is no way that squad of players will finish above eighteenth spot,no investment from brent in the playing squad will gaurantee another dire struggle,Brent Out.

Bet you twenty quid that we'll come higher than 18th and it'll be the easiest twenty quid I'll ever make.

And that's not because we're particularly great and certainly not because we have a lot of backing but because this is league two and we're not entirely dreadful anymore. With regards to being patronised by MK- regardless of history, this is one of the better sides in the league above. Only if you set out to find a negative outcome can this be seen as a negative result.

I'm still doggedly sticking to my 11th/12th shout. First eleven is starting to look a little tasty but back-up is inexperienced, inconsistent and imbalanced. We do however have a great manager and it is a dire league. Whilst we do have shit backing, I'm not convinced that any greater a figure than half the league have any better backing. Barely anyone spends in L2.

Starting 11 bar one or two will push for top half in this league. But not much depth which is a problem, Get in a goal scoring striker, LB, LM and extra CM and we'll get the playoffs im sure of it.

GreenSam wrote:

Bet you twenty quid that we'll come higher than 18th and it'll be the easiest twenty quid I'll ever make.

And that's not because we're particularly great and certainly not because we have a lot of backing but because this is league two and we're not entirely dreadful anymore.

You're last point is yet to be proved.

I'd keep your money in your pocket a little longer if I was you, Sam.

Pitbull wrote:

Good result for us, against an strong attacking MK Dons side, Alan Smith played very well.

McCormick pulled off two top saves in the first half to keep us in it.

The defence coped well in the middle, although full back frailties were obvious, made worse that the Dons wingers were excellent.

Our CM's looked solid but had a tendency to sit to deep. Our starting wingers played well, Alessandra very skilful. Youngy did a good job when he came on. Vassel looked good on the right. Ryan Lane scored a beauty.

Marvin Morgan looked promising, he will do well in league 2, need to aim for him a bit more though.

Reuben Reid was my main concern, with every good moment there's 10 bad ones, he also looks slightly overweight and spent a lot of time standing and complaining.

Was great meeting Alan Smith after the game and had a chat with McCormick.

Amazing how people see games differantly.

Berry was probably one of our better players. The MK Dons Right Winger had a complete mare. Sure you remember his shot from the right side out the penalty area that went out for a throwing on the left hand side of the pitch. Even when clean through in the second half he fluffed his chance.

Nelson in the first half had Banton in his pocket, in the second half Banton did come out a little better until being taken of. (Banton really does run like a girl with flapping hands.)

Alan Smith was ok, but didnt really cause Wotton many problems. The Dons are a good passing side, its was a good game.

GreenSam wrote:

Sufferedsince68 wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Wake me up when we've stopped being patronised by no mark shit like MK Franchise.

The bench full of kids, there is no way that squad of players will finish above eighteenth spot,no investment from brent in the playing squad will gaurantee another dire struggle,Brent Out.

Bet you twenty quid that we'll come higher than 18th and it'll be the easiest twenty quid I'll ever make.

And that's not because we're particularly great and certainly not because we have a lot of backing but because this is league two and we're not entirely dreadful anymore. With regards to being patronised by MK- regardless of history, this is one of the better sides in the league above. Only if you set out to find a negative outcome can this be seen as a negative result.

I'm still doggedly sticking to my 11th/12th shout. First eleven is starting to look a little tasty but back-up is inexperienced, inconsistent and imbalanced. We do however have a great manager and it is a dire league. Whilst we do have shit backing, I'm not convinced that any greater a figure than half the league have any better backing. Barely anyone spends in L2.

Sam i think your a nice intelligent lad who on occasions such as this talk bollocks, the first eleven is at best average and the back up is kids, i stand by my overly optimisic prediction though i hope yours comes true. no joy for argyle while the specmare is here thats how i see it.

mk dons a decent side..........the REAL Wimbledon.

Sufferedsince68 wrote:

Sam i think your a nice intelligent lad who on occasions such as this talk bollocks

Ahaha- I can handle that description to be honest! As for the rest- it's hard to deny that it's looking a lot bette than last year at this stage. Whether that's enough to make a noteable difference, we will see. I do maintain that with a good LB, the first eleven is of a good quality but the lack of depth will drag us down.

Where I do agree with you is that we aren't play-off material at all and I be surprised if we got there. Lets hope Shez proves us both wrong.

Exciting innit. All aboard the Black Pasty !