A few decades of Cardiff City v (AFC) Wimbledon matches.

Posted on February 16, 2026 by The other Bob Wilson

After spending most of the season being perceived as a low scoring side that was greatly reliant on their decent defensive record, AFC Wimbledon have become the great entertainers as they have hit a run of form which should be enough to help them stay above the bottom four – something which would have been regarded as success before a ball was kicked for the team which made it up through the League Two Play Offs last season.

For a while during the first two or three months of the season, Wimbledon’s sights were aimed much higher than mere survival as they spent much of their time in the top six, but a run of nine league games without a win through to the New Year had many thinking they were right to tip the Dons to go down after all.

A win at Leyton Orient on New Year’s Day didn’t stop the slide as just one point was taken from the next twelve available and so when they went to rock bottom Port Vale early this month, it looked like a way for Vale to, perhaps, launch a revival at the expense of a team they could potentially finish above come May.

I watched part of that game and it was just as tense as you would expect it to be with quality at a premium, but the Dons got the vital goal in the eighty eighth minute and, since then, there’s been a 3-2 home win over an in form Reading, courtesy of a Marcus Browne hat trick, and a 3-3 draw at Barnsley on Saturday in which they turned an early 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead and would have been disappointed to have let the home side equalise in the eighty seventh minute.

Wimbledon come here tomorrow with a surprisingly good away record which includes six wins and three draws in their sixteen matches and, in fact, their twenty two goals scored is only bettered by Plymouth and Reading.

I think now we’re at a stage where for the majority of our remaining matches the formula has to be not to allow complacency to creep in because we’ve proved we’re better than most of the teams we’ve got left to play, but if we take our foot off the gas at all, sides like Blackpool and Burton have shown that we aren’t good enough to assume we only have to turn up to win.

We should beat Wimbledon, but they’ve triumphed against Lincoln this season and so we need to be on our guard against, perhaps, the team in this league that is easiest to underestimate.

On to the quiz, seven questions related to the different versions of the team from Wimbledon going back to the 60s.

60s. This forward, who I remember as the player with the most impressive pair of sideburns/mutton chop whiskers of the time, had an unusual route into the professional game as he began his working life in the coal mines of Kent. However, his prolific scoring during his three years in non league football for Wimbledon predictably had clubs from the Football League circling. When he left the Dons, it was for a modest fee to join a team which had recently recorded a notable cup win at Ninian Park and, after starting quietly in his first season, he went on to win the club’s Player of the Year award, plus a Player of the Year award voted for by the managers in the division his team had just got promoted from. In fact, his scoring rate at his first professional club was slightly better than it had been in non league football and so it was no surprise when a club in the north of the country which had a very illustrious past paid a then club record fee for him. Despite a still decent scoring rate, the move did not work out – as to why, home sickness shouldn’t have been a factor because the club concerned were from the county of his birth. It was something of a surprise though to see him again drop into non league football after a couple of years as he moved to a city with a team nicknamed the Clarets. He didn’t stay long though because another team that had been a power in the land decades earlier before falling on hard times brought him back into the Football League briefly. After that, he had a season in South Africa and then saw out his football career with various non league sides in Kent. Who am I describing?

70s. This Scottish full back was at Leicester as a youth, but left to join a team in hoops without playing a game for them. His form over four years for his new team earned him a move to another side with a distinctive kit which would soon be playing in the First Division for the first time in their history. He played in most of the games as his team earned that promotion and was a fairly regular selection in the first season after they went up, but saw little first team action after that and was eventually loaned out to to reds from another country. Surprisingly, at the end of the loan spell, he chose to sign for Wimbledon, who were still a non League side at the time and he was a regular in their team for two seasons before ending his career among Poppies. Who is he?

80s. See how many times crayon is used perhaps to find a player who began his career at Wimbledon and returned there later on loan – he played just one league game for the Dons on both occasions However, he clocked up more than three hundred appearances for a team that had a reputation for playing like Wimbledon at that time. (5,6)

90s. Recently arrived slaughterer maybe?

00s. Appropriately I suppose, this forward’s first club was Wembley because he’s most remembered for a goal he scored for a then non league club in a controversial tie with Premier League opposition in the FA Cup. His goal earned his team a draw before they lost narrowly in the replay and, although he played close to three hundred Football League games, it’s what he did while out on loan to that non league club which people associate him with now. In fact, there was one other game which was truly memorable for him – that was when he scored five times in a League Two game I believe it was in what was the club who loaned him out’s record win. Towards the end of his career, he had an injury hit spell at AFC Wimbledon as they climbed the leagues to regain their EFL status, but who is he?

10s. Sounds like an Argonaut with a liking for Christmas!

20. Measurement of distance followed by an oxymoron perhaps!

Answers

60s.John O’Mara joined Brentford from Wimbledon in early 1971 and scored twenty five times in forty games in his first full season at Griffin Park. Blackburn Rovers then paid £50,000 for him before he returned south to join Chelmsford City in 1974. O’Mara soon returned to the pro game with Bradford City, but only played three times for them before leaving league football for good.

70s. John Loughlan’s form for Morton earned him a move to Crystal Palace in 1968 and he was a regular in their promotion team in 1969/70. Loughlan then played more than half of the league games as Palace fought successfully to maintain their top flight status in 70/71, but largely dropped out of first team contention after that and had a loan spell at Wrexham in 1972, before signing for Wimbledon and then Kettering.

80s. Goalkeeper Simon Tracey played one league game as a youngster for Wimbledon before signing for Sheffield United where he went on to play more than three hundred league games. During his time at Sheffield, he was loaned to Wimbledon and again just played the once – this time in a 4-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest.

90s. Justin Skinner.

00s. Giulliano Grazioli scored for Stevenage against Newcastle at Broadhall Way in 1998. A few months later, he scored five times for Peterborough in a 9-1 win at Barnet which is, apparently, a record win for Posh. Grazioil was near the end of his career when he turned out for AFC Wimbledon a couple of times in 07/08.

10s. Jason Euell.

20s. Myles Hippolyte.

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Luton not Cardiff’s equals on a day when they could have the thrown the towel in at half time.

Posted on February 15, 2026 by The other Bob Wilson

Luton manager Jack Wilshire caused a stir before today’s game at the Cardiff City Stadium when he claimed his team, in seventh place going into the match having having won just two games more than they’ve lost, were as good as top of the table City and it was only our consistency that had us eighteen points above them.

Now, when it comes to the point about our consistency against Lutron’s, Wilshire was, surely, just stating the bleeding obvious. However, clearly, it was the bit about his team being the equal of ours in terms of ability that the media seized on and it was no surprise when BBM was asked for his opinion on what the Luton manager had to say in his pre match press conference on Thursday.

For me, our manager got his reply spot on when he said Wilshire might well be right and he went on to praise the Luton squad which, let’s face it, were many people’s pick to finish as Champions before the season started.

Certainly, it seemed to me that for every one pundit who thought we would finish first, there were twenty who tipped Luton. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that there is a lot of talent employed at Kenilworth Road and that, on paper at least, there is little between them and us.

So, this became a side issue to pay attention to during the game – were the unbeaten in ten league leaders that produced what I’ve seen widely described as one of the great ten v eleven performances in their last match going to be able to lay a glove on the seventh placed under achievers?

I’m being sarcastic there because I believe that there wasn’t much between them in terms of ability. However, as I’ve got older, I’ve come to believe that momentum and spirit can top basic ability nine times out of ten in the professional game where, even in the lower divisions, a degree of way above average ability is a given whether we’re talking individually or collectively.

 City had little in the momentum and spirit department last May, but they have it in spades now and this is allowing them to show the ability that many City fans, I wouldn’t be one of them, insist was there all of the time (I still feel we have so much to be grateful to Brian Barry-Murphy for). Luton, on the other hand, weighed down by successive relegations and what has to be seen as a disappointing campaign this time around, have hardly any momentum, spirit must be low and so the ability they have is only seen sporadically.

On to today’s game then, were Luton able to prove their manager right and were City able to prove their manager wrong with regard to his Luton might be better than us comment?

Well, the answers to those questions were pretty conclusive really – no in Luton’s case and yes when it came to City!

I mentioned the term lay a glove on earlier and I did so while bearing in mind that I would be returning to a boxing theme when outlining how the game panned out.

Luton were the experienced campaigners who’d been mixing it with the best not too long ago and were still capable of doing so now on their day, while City were the hungry young bucks on their way up who have recently started showing a destructive punch.

In the early minutes, Luton felt City’s punching power as Ollie Tanner, Joel Bagan and Omari Kellyman all came close.

However, Luton were sent sprawling to the canvas  on ten minutes as Joel Colwill, in the midst of a second successive superb performance, drove forward into the penalty area and despite having three Luton players around him, managed to pick out David Turnbull who dispatched a classy half volley from fifteen yards out of the reach of Josh Keeley – it was a fine goal, but it won’t be considered as a contender for goal of the season in this season where fine goals have become commonplace..

Luton cleared their heads and their response to this setback was impressive as they started to show that their press and work in possession presented them as one of the better footballing sides to visit Cardiff City Stadium this season. 

Less than ten minutes after going ahead, it was City who were having to take a count as neat work by Devante Cole sent Isiah Jones clear of Joel Bagan and their response when the full back brought down the winger as he closed in on goal for what looked a clear penalty was interesting. The reaction of Jones and one or two other visiting players made clear their disappointment that referee Ollie Yates deemed Bagan’s offense only to be worthy of a yellow card. I thought Luton had a point, but, apparently a change in the way referees interpret such situations in that red cards should not be shown for what is thought to be a genuine attempt to play the ball is now in force and so I reckon the ref got it right.

Nathan Trott got very close to Jordan Clark’s penalty, but it was too well placed for him and so Luton were level and for the next ten minutes or so, they gave as good as they got as they began to give themselves a chance of proving their manager’s support for them was not misplaced.

The experienced Kasey Palmer was at the heart of Luton’s improvement as, being used in a deeper position than normal, he was showing himself to still be a very good technician – especially at this level.

However, the game turned on an incident where City’s youthful exuberance made Palmer look slow and unable to cope with our intense high pressing. Palmer was ambushed by Tanner, Turnbull and Colwill and suddenly the last named was bearing down on goal with Kellyman unmarked inside him. Colwill didn’t need Kellyman though as he coolly took advantage of a poorly positioned Keeley to steer the ball into the corner from the edge of the penalty area.

If Luton had been able to recover from their first knockdown, this second one had them needing the ropes to keep them up as they tried to make it to half time without further damage.

City’s cultured clogger Perry Ng ensured this would not happen though as he came up with City’s latest contender for that goal of the season award on forty two minutes. Ng was having a great time of it already as he emphasized the culture rather than what is called shithousery these days. There was, of course, the obligatory Ng nutmeg as he showed what a very good footballer he is at this level. Even so, there was nothing to suggest we were going to see the 25 yard howitzer that ended a period of smooth, but slowish, passing by flying into the roof of the net to give City a healthy lead in a game which looked full of goals at this stage.

Down for a third time, Luton barely beat the count this time and were holding on desperately as Gabriel Osho headed on to the woodwork from a free kick and Tanner’s shot seconds later was deflected a foot wide- there also could have been a City penalty when the ball hit Gideon Kodua’s arm, but Mr Yates probably believed he was so close to the to ball when it was played that he couldn’t get out of the way when it hit him.

City went in at half time with Luton reeling under the barrage of punches they’d faced late in the half – they had not been able to live with us after we’d produced a performance to match last week’s at Rotherham.

To continue the boxing analogy, having built up a substantial lead, City spent the second half “staying out of range” and they succeeded in this to the extent that Clark’s spot kick remained Luton’s only on target effort of the game.

The low key second half only threatened a fifth goal on a couple of occasions as Chris Willock’s shot was turned aside on his near post by Keeley. Then, in added time, Rubin Colwill, making a most welcome twenty minute return as he replaced his brother after three months out with injury, burst past his marker to lay a chance on a plate for another sub, Callum Robinson. It really should have been 4-1, but Keeley was able to divert the close range shot over.

The post match stats (or judge’s cards!) told the story of City’s domination – 60/40 possession against the team with the second best possession stats in the division, 18 goal attempts to three (seven on target to one) and 29 touches in the opposition penalty area to 12,

City were the much better team on the day and, leaving aside arguments about Wiltshire’s pre match opinion, I’d say we showed how much we’ve improved since we were very reliant on Nathan Trott for our early season win at Kenilworth Road.

By doing our bit by picking up three points, we ensured it would be good news whatever the outcome of the second v third, Lincoln v Bolton match. My preference would have been a Lincoln win I think because that would have meant a gap of eleven points to third, but a 1-1 draw which puts us four points off ahead of Lincoln and ten in front of Bolton, with a far better goal difference, is not too shabby – we’ve also broken our win – draw – win – draw sequence,

Stockport didn’t play today, while Bradford had a good 2-0 win over Peterborough to climb above Huddersfield who were beaten 1-0 at Stevenage, Reading are up to seventh following their 3-2 win over Wycombe, but they’re some twenty points behind us.

Treherbert Boys and Girls Club got themselves off the bottom of the Ardal South West Wales League with a 3-2 victory at Clydach to move within a pint of the hosts. It was a pair of defeats in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance though with Ton Pentre going down 2-1 at Cardiff Bay Warriors in the Championship and Treorchy Boys and Girls Club were beaten 2-0 at Tongwynlais in Division One (East).

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