Wombles:0 U's:0

I'll hold my hands up and take the blame for another goalless United performance.

As Danny Crow bowled past Wimbledon goalkeeper Seb Brown and advanced on the empty net 18 minutes into Saturday's game, I thought my drought was finally over. Surely it was going to be 1-0 to the Cam-ber-ridge.

But alas, I was right in Crowy's line of sight, and he must have spotted me, hesistated, and consequently lost control of the ball, and the chance was gone.

Never mind. At least the Wimbledon game was an entertaining affair, played out between two teams who looked quite evenly matched. While I wouldn't agree with Martin Ling's assessement that we were the better side throughout, we certainly had enough chances to win comfortably. Shame we didn't take any of them.

Wimbledon's ground, tucked away between several rows of houses, is a compact arena which will surely struggle to meet the needs of it's tennants should they continue to climb the pyramid. At least it's not in Selhurst or Milton Keynes I suppose. The shallow terrace allocated to the "Amber Nation" is a bit Histon-esque, but did enable a fair view on most of the pitch.

Despite the sweltering conditions, United started the match at a high tempo, closing the Dons down all over the show as they sought an early goal. The partnership between Holroyd and Crow continues to develop by the game, and the former should have given us the lead in the ninth minute. Following a spell of penalty box pin ball, Carden's shot was parried by the keeper into the path of Super Chris, but his goalbound effort was blocked on the line by Brett Johnson at the expense of a corner.

Then came Crowy's big opportunity, before a Parky volley was blocked by Jay Conroy. But by then the home side seemed to have got wise to our tactics, and were defending a bit deeper to nulify the electric pace and movement of Holroyd. By the end of the half they had carved out some good moments of their own, with Hatswell making a headed clearance under pressure from Danny Kedwell, and Tonker sliding in to clear a Luke Moore cross which had beaten Danny Potter.

We almost scored directly after the restart, with Crow spotting Brown off his line and trying an audacious Beckham style lob which the scrabbling keeper had to palm over for a corner. Holroyd also had the ball in the net, but was denied by an offside flag, and in between times Johnson headed over an open goal for Wimbledon, with Potter out of position, having come for a cross and failed to gather.

The Don's looked stronger in the closing stages, with Moore twice spurning chances to net the winner. First he was inches away from connecting with a cross from sub Jon Main, then he raced cleared of the U's back line, but took a heavy touch, allowing the alert Potter to smother the ball just inside the area.

I was a bit disappointed that Ling left it until the last ten minutes to make any changes. Neither of the wingers really performed, so why wasn't Pitt introduced? What's the point of having him on the bench if he prefers to bring on someone else (Ives) and play them out of position. And we could have done with a change up front a bit sooner, as Crow was clearly flagging in the hot conditions. A draw is by no means a bad result, but it was a winnable game, and we cannot afford to drop too many points, even at this early stage of the season.

Man of the Match: Anthony Tonkin - Several important interceptions allied to a few forays into Dons territory.