Who'd have believed it ?

About 8 years ago, AFC Wimbledon ran onto the pitch at Bottom Meadow, the home of Sandhurst Town to start their first competitive fixture in the CCL. Eight years later in preparation for the new season they welcomed an Arsenal XI to Kingsmeadow. The Dons now in the Conference are able to attract Premiership opponents .

On Saturday the Arsenal team coach was severely delayed by the almost inevitable traffic delay on the M25, meaning that the game did not kick off till 3.30pm. Nevertheless the Arsenal XI coached by Arsenal legends Steve Bould and Liam Brady, contained some members of the 2008-09 Youth Cup Winning Team in Kyle Bartley and Tom Cruise and the England Under 17 players Benik Afobe and Chuks Aneke.

A crowd of close to 3000 saw Arsenal defend well for 45 minutes and threaten the Dons goal on a number of occasions. The goalless score at half time, allowed both coaches to introduced a range of substitutes for the 2nd half. Arsenal's weakened their defence and the Dons capitalised with two quick goals and although Afobe pulled one back with literally the last kick of the game.

From an Arsenal prospective these games are not about results, but a part of player development where young players grow accustomed to playing the game against adults and in a more crowded stadium. Inevitably after Dons fans focused on the victory and on how far the team had come.

Hopfully Arsenal will have been impressed by how they were treated, the quality of the pitch and the approach on the field of he Dons. It would be good to think that rather than being a one-off this fixture could be part of a fledging relationship.