AFC Wimbledon, a club set up only 7 years ago, are joining the non-league elite after sealing promotion from the Blue Square South with a 3-0 triumph over St. Albans. It was pretty much a formality anyway, as closest rivals Hampton & Richmond and Eastleigh would have had to have won while AFCW lost, along with the small matter of a gargantuan goal difference swing.
In front of a record 4,722 crowd at Kingsmeadow, which the club share with local team Kingstonian, Kennedy Adjei, Sam Hatton and Jason Goodliffe scored the goals.
The Dons came 3rd in their first-ever season in the Combined Counties League before winning the title a year later. Last season AFC Wimbledon won promotion to Blue Square South after winning the Ryman Premier Division play-offs. They have now finished the current season 3 points ahead of Hampton & Richmond, a week after the two clubs had shared a 1-1 draw, Jon Main scoring for AFC Wimbledon three minutes from time. During their brief existence, they already have a creditable record to their name: the most consecutive English League matches unbeaten for a Senior team (78).
One team they will not face next season are Burton Albion, who themselves venture into new territory after winning the Blue Square Premier, despite losing 5 of their last 6 games. The other team to take a berth in the Football League will be the play-off winners (Cambridge United, Histon, Torquay United, or Stevenage Borough). They will be replaced by relegated sides Luton Town and, most likely, Chester City. The Blue Square North/South teams to join winners Tamworth and AFCW will be contested by a play-off team from each division.
Promotion from the Blue Square Premier would give AFC Wimbledon a place in the Football League, around 33 years after the original Wimbledon FC managed to break into those heights, before their extraordinary rise to the top. In several years, they may just end up against the MK Dons, the controversial team that caused the New Dons to form. That could just be one of modern football’s biggest stories.
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