AFC Wimbledon have managed to return to the Football League just nine years after the club was created from scratch and started its meteroic rise through the divisions. An extraordinary tale for the fan-owned club, recreated as a phoenix after MK Dons robbed the original Wimbledon of their status, was completed at the end of the season when the Dons overcame Luton on penalties in the play-off final and thus will play League Two football along with Crawley next season. While the hopes in the summer were high that Terry Brown's side would challenge at the sharp end of the table after an encouraging first season in the Blue Square Premier, few people would have envisaged that swashbuckling start that the Wombles had. They secured five wins in their first six games, playing a supern brand of attacking football with a lot of invention. Brown must have been impressed by the speed with which his side gelled given the high turnover in the summer and the Dons remained a constant force as the season went on. The odd setback, namely a 3:0 thumping away at Luton, did not see them lose their way and some superb performances, like a 5:2 win away at Mansfield, kept them clear at the top of the table. It soon became clear that the young side from Kingsmeadow would be the only real challengers to Crawley for the title and they managed to hold on to the top spot well until March. However, only the fact that Crawley had a number of games in hand kept Wimbledon as leaders for so long. The squad lost some of its sharpness during a punishing schedule in January when they won just two of eight games and then were thumped heavily at York. It looked like the wheels might come off after a 3:1 loss to Crawley was followed by a 2:1reverse at home to Kidderminster but once the players realized that they will not be going up automatically, they focused all their efforts on finishing strongly and won six of their last seven games, recreating the superb style of football that carried them through early on. Thus, they approached the play-offs with some superb momentum behind them and Fleetwood were mercilessly swept away in the semi-final by winning 8:1 on aggregate. The big final against Luton came down to penalties and Wimbledon held their nerve at the end to edge a very tight game and secure a promotion that no one will surely begrudge them as they fully deserved it, playing the most laissez-faire football in the division.
