Kingsmeadow Stadium

Ground: Kingsmeadow Stadium

Visits: 1

Date: 8th August 2017

Match: AFC Wimbledon - Brentford 1-3 After extra time, 1-1 at full time (League Cup)

Attendance: 3 229

On Thursday morning I woke in Hungerford and at 10.44 I boarded a train bringing me to London Paddington. Shortly after noon I was once again at Paddington. When I go to games in the London area I usually stay near Paddington station. After staying at five different hotels in as many days I would actually stay two nights at my Paddington hotel. Tonight's game, AFC Wimbledon v Brentford in the League Cup, had a 19.45 kick-off time so plenty of time to kill before then. At 13.30 I met up with Stefan and Jocke, my friends from Umeå, who had been in England since Thursday. We went to an Italian restaurant for a late lunch, had a cup of coffee at a café before returning to our hotels to rest. With railworks closing Norbiton station, the nearest station to Kingsmeadow Stadium, we decided to use the tube (District Line) to Wimbledon station and from there bus 131 to the ground. Travelling in rush hour the bus journey took much longer than expected but at 18.15 we finally arrived at the ground. AFC Wimbledon was founded in June 2002 when the FA allowed to Wimbledon FC to move from south London to Milton Keynes. The club started in the Combined Counties League but six promotions mean the club is currently playing in League 1. In August 1993 I watched the “old” Wimbledon play at Selhurst Park. Plough Lane, the home of Wimbledon FC between 1912 and 1991, was not allowed to host Premiership football and the club had to groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. AFC Wimbledon has played at Kingsmeadow Stadium in Kingston since the club´s formation but plans for a new stadium at the site of the former Greyhound stadium at Plough Lane are well advanced and the club hope to return to its roots in time for the 2019/20 season.

For this game I had bought three tickets for the Main (Paul Strank) Stand and a but surprisingly it was unreserved seating. There are several bars inside the Main Stand and you can enter the actual stand and then leave as many times as you want. That meant I could take the usual pictures of the empty stands and then head to the main bar for a well-deserved drink. Even with a terrace ticket you can enter and leave for the bars. Once in the bar I met up with John who contacted me a few years ago regarding going to games in Sweden. He lives in the area and contacted me again when he found out I was going to Kingsmeadow for this game. Since it was unreserved seating we entered the stand again around 19.20 and managed to find four seats together in block E. Brentford brought 1 400 fans to this game and those fans packed the far terrace. Tonight was actually the first time Brentford played away against Wimbledon/AFC Wimbledon since 1984. Brentford were the better team and had several good chances early on. At half-time it was 1-0 to AFC Wimbledon though. In the 69th minute Brentford equalized and the game went to extra time. In the 105+1 minute Brentford made it 1-2 and shortly before the end of extra time they scored again to deservedly win 3-1. A good game with a decent atmosphere as I completed League 1 and thereby the top three divisions in England. The journey back to Paddington went smoothly and shortly before midnight I could go to bed. The weather forecast for tomorrow says a lot of rain in Colchester but hopefully the pitch will be ok as I take another step towards completing the 92.