That day, the Dons won 6-2. The following season, they beat Teddington 3-2, 3-1 and 1-0; in 2015/16, it was 5-0, 2-1, 3-1 and 3-2. Last season, after losing 5-2, Teddington held Wimbledon 1-1 at home – the only points the Dons dropped until their final fixture – but this season, the champions prevailed 3-0 and 8-3. It’s fair to say they’re the better team.
Not that that would stop Teddington having a go. Since the nadir of that 8-3 loss they have played brilliant football, winning doggedly at Hampton then stylishly at South Park and Fleet. They entered this game, rearranged to St Mary’s to avoid the waterlogged Udney Park, with high spirits and nothing to lose.
They also entered it with a scraped-together 11, for the fifth time this season: on this occasion the enforced absentees were Sarah Dillamore, Amy Hallett and Emily Coulson. Over the course of several text messages, phone calls and chewed pencils, manager Dave Waldron and his assistant Gary Parkinson shuffled their pack once more, yet again reaping the benefits of their longstanding determination to produce flexible, intelligent players.
Denied two of the squad’s three centre-backs, the brains trust asked captain Carla Novakovic to drop into central defence, where her footballing brain makes up for her lack of height. Giula Clini dropped back to replace Carla alongside Liz Kriebel, while Annabel Taiwo’s promising performance at Fleet won her the front-running role with Ella Dodd dropping into the No.10 slot. Having Saskia Brewster at left-back allowed Frances Clark to push on to left-wing, Emily Bashford continued at right-back, while Ella Bothamley and Millie Theobald took up their usual slots of right-wing and centre-back respectively. Sorted.
Until it was revealed that Jennifer Neves, who has donned the borrowed goalkeeping gloves selflessly and impressively, had to spend at least part of the match outfield for the purposes of GCSE filming. And the day’s other small-screen star, Annabel, was distinctly under the weather. But what can we do? Just our best. On we go.
But before Dave had even gathered in his warm-up cones, Wimbledon had taken immediate advantage of the home side’s reconfiguration. Less than 100 seconds had elapsed when an unopposed visiting striker stroked home left-footed from within the area.
It was a horribly wooden start from Teddington, betraying their three-week lay-off, but they started to retrieve their groove with Giulia laying off well for Liz before Boz set up Doddsy for a shot flashed wide. Wimbledon sent big Deb steaming through, but Jen was swift off her line to clutch a strong shot to her chest.
Carla hadn’t fancied taking on Deb, who’s the best part of a foot taller than her, but the captain’s footballing nous soon showed. As the Dons sought their target, her marker simply nipped in front to intercept, and even if the striker retained possession, her shadow chaperoned her away from danger.
And then, in possession, did some marvellous things. Just after Annabel had been called offside at one end, Deb was at the other; taking the resultant free-kick, ball-playing centre-back Carla clipped a gorgeous ball – not her first of the morning – over the left-back into the path of Boz. When the defender scuttled back to front up Boz, the bustling winger simply overpowered her to pick out a cross, which Fran turned just wide of the far post.
Not long after, Boz took an accidental whack on a back she’d strained during the week, but she jumped up and kept going. Having forced a throw deep on Wimbledon’s left, she stretched out a toe to force the throw into the path of Doddsy, who leathered it first-time just wide of the far post.
And then, just after the half-hour, the two Ellas combined again. This time Boz’s lovely left-foot ball round the corner sent Doddsy through on goal, and a covering defender sent her sprawling to the turf. Liz dispatched the spot-kick low to the left of the goalkeeper, her seventh goal of the season and her sixth in the last six games, to put her one goal behind last season’s personal-best total – and more importantly to put Teddington level.
More importantly, but more impermanently: this time, parity was even more fleeting. While your reporter was still making his audio notes, Wimbledon cut through Teddington’s centre to reclaim the lead.
If that was ridiculous, it almost became sublime when Doddsy was immediately sent clear again by Boz, but this time the goalkeeper saved well. And two minutes later a falling ball rolled down a Wimbledon arm in the area – debatable, but the sort you’ve seen given.
At the turnaround came the change-around. Jen dumped the gloves to be filmed as an attacking right-back, set to rampage down the flank filled with fans. That role had been well fulfilled before the break by the increasingly impressive Emily Bashford: she’d silenced the Wimbledon left-winger who had ripped Teddington asunder in December. Now Bash was off to the left-wing herself, replacing Fran, who had been selfless enough to pick up the gloves despite admitting that without her glasses “I can’t really see”. “Try to stop the round thing,” came the instruction.
The half-time team talk was as positive as the home side’s display: barring the concentration lapses for the two goals, Teddington had been probably the better side. That changed after the break: there was no arguing about it. The home side simply bossed Wimbledon about.
They equalised (again) within eight minutes, and it was a fully deserved goal for former Wimbledon player Boz. Having drifted centrally in an attempt to find her sidekick Doddsy, she continued her run as the ball came through to Bash, darting in from the left. Therefore, when the winger’s shot turned into a cross, Boz was best placed to beat the goalkeeper with a savage rising shot exorcising the frustrations of a month on the sidelines for Teddington’s top scorer, lashing home her 10th in 11 games.
Still Teddington weren’t satiated. Having concentrated furiously to prevent another immediate concession, they went back on the attack to seek the lead against their oldest, most frustrating rivals. Overlapping from left-back, Saskia rampaged as far as the Wimbledon bye-line – and although she conceded the goal-kick, Teddington won it straight back and Doddsy hit it just wide on the first bounce.
Teddington were terrorising a worried Wimbledon. The visitors displayed a commendable commitment to short-passing football, but their hosts were harrying them out of possession. All they lacked was the clinical through-ball or finish.
Three minutes after the hour, digging back in typically tenacious fashion, Doddsy rolled her ankle and required a moment to recuperate. Teddington lost a little momentum, while Wimbledon gathered themselves – and two minutes later regained the lead with their first shot of the half.
It came, long-standing Teddington watchers will be unsurprised to learn, from a straight through-ball which was ajudged to have beaten the offside trap: defenders’ arms were hoisted aloft but linesman Andy gets more right than wrong. With Fran understandably unsure when or whether to come off her line, the winger poked it past her into the corner.
That could have collapsed confidence for the home team, but they picked themselves up and tried again. After all, as they were reminded, they’d equalised twice. And they resumed their previous position, dominating possession and creating chances: Liz sent Doddsy through to slot just wide, then Boz fired wide too.
However, the game was up, and Teddington slipped to their fourth single-goal defeat of the season. But this was perhaps their finest performance against the Dons: even the visiting supporters were moved to wonder how the home side hadn’t won. The hosts didn’t win a point, but they very much proved one. With four games left, they have proved again that they have little to fear. Long may it last.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC: Jennifer Neves; Emily Bashford, Carla Novakovic, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Liz Kriebel (1g), Giulia Clini, Ella Bothamley (1g), Ella Dodd, Fran Clark, Annabel Taiwo. Thanks to Catherine for pics (after the table).
