by Sam Elliott
LIKE striker, like club. AFC Wimbledon and 21-goal Lyle Taylor have both risen from the bowels of Non-League football.
And they’re both licking their lips at the prospect of being on a level playing field with Milton Keynes Dons in a few months.
After MK were doomed to the drop at the weekend, the last thing they will want is to be joined in League One next year by those relentless upstarts who were playing in the Combined Counties League a little more than a decade ago.
Nobody likes a history lesson you just don’t want to hear.
The story of the clubs, both born amid acrimony in 2002, has been played out a hundred thousand times – but being in the same division next season would add another twist to a fascinating tale.
Taylor was at Concord Rangers, then in the Ryman League, when Wimbledon were making their ascent up the football ladder.
Spells at Woking, Hereford and Lewes followed. Arguably, the 26-year-old is now seen as the best player ever to pull on the club’s shirt.
Taylor’s double did for Dagenham on Tuesday night, with 1,200 Wimbledon fans outnumbering the home contingent. In full voice, choruses of “Wombles going up and the Franchise going down” rained down as the players left the field to “We’re coming for you”.
The chants were aimed in only one direction, and the striker has an appetite for a face-off. “To be in the same division as them? I’ve got to say the prospect of that is pretty tasty, isn’t it?” Taylor told The FLP.
“When you go to a new club, you aren’t automatically up on its history. That was the case when I came to AFC Wimbledon in the summer. You know about the rise through the leagues, how the club came about, but having not played for either side you aren’t totally educated on it all.
“That changed as soon as I got here. I know the full story and how it all started. You understand the animosity that exists as you build your relationship with the supporters.
“Milton Keynes are going down from the Championship and we’ve got a good chance of the play-offs.
“It’s not done yet from our point of view, but to get in there would be great. Who would want to play us in the form we’re in at the moment?
“It would be fantastic for the fans. When the club was created I guess the ambition was first to get into the Football League and eventually overtake them. If we can get into League One, that’s a massive step.”
Taylor has done the hard yards to make him one of League Two‘s most-watched forwards.
It takes something to keep Adebayo Akinfenwa out of the limelight, but his form, and partnership with Tom Elliott in attack, has kept the world’s strongest player doing some different kind of bench presses this term.
“We can’t afford to go off the boil but we are playing very well,” Taylor added. “We are getting better with every game we play.”
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