Eddie Howe was evidently not exaggerating when, on the eve of kick-off, he described AFC Wimbledon as “well organised”. If anything it proved quite an understatement as Johnnie Jackson’s League Two players not only prevented Newcastle from scoring in open play but succeeded in frequently silencing St James’ Park. It took Fabian Schär’s coolly dispatched penalty to book Howe’s team an intriguing fourth round engagement at home to Chelsea at the end of a night when the excellent Wimbledon captain Joe Lewis proved obduracy personified at the heart of his team’s central defensive trinity.
Not that any of his similarly committed team-mates were remotely shabby. As recently as last Saturday, Pep Guardiola suggested that Newcastle are “impossible” to contain for a full 90 minutes but, much as Howe’s players dominated possession and were never in real danger of defeat, Wimbledon made a pretty good fist of proving the Manchester City manager wrong. This tie was supposed to have been played a week ago at Wimbledon but when torrential rain led to the River Wandle flooding and a sink hole opening up on the sodden Plough Lane pitch an inevitable postponement beckoned.
It prompted a switch of venues almost 300 miles north yet Jackson’s team arrived buoyed by not merely a highly promising start to their League Two campaign but the memory of eliminating the Premier League’s Ipswich in the previous round. Despite making eight changes f.
