Once you settle into a pattern, it can be hard to break out.

In football, the problem can get so bad that it becomes a proverbial monkey on one’s back, or even a full-blown curse.

“We haven’t won the league in this many years.”

“We haven’t won silverware in that many years.”

“We haven’t beaten this team since that one guy was manager.”

I have a pretty open mind, but I’m generally wary about full-on superstition. I don’t believe in curses as such.

But I do believe that those things can weigh on the mind, whether they’re real or not.

If there’s a pattern of never being able to accomplish a goal or win against a particular team, everyone - players, staff, fans - start to believe it’s a thing. Prophecies have a habit of becoming self-fulfilling.

The thing about AFC Wimbledon this season is that a lot of our patterns, our curses, our monkeys on our back, are falling away.

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Last weekend we beat Accrington, putting to bed a years-long winless streak against them.

Earlier in the month we reached the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since the club’s reconstitution in 2002.

Last autumn we beat the Franchise.

And, gods willing and the creek don’t rise, we’ll be going back to Merton soon.

Patterns and “curses” can come to define you if you let them. It’s hard to break out of them. But there’s a peculiar sense of liberation that comes from doing so.

Everyone connected to AFC Wimbledon are proud of the club’s past - even the darker parts. But this season is showing that we don’t necessarily have to be defined by it.

Wandsworth Times:

Sweet win: Dons celebrate Sean Rigg's opener in last week's 2-1 win over Accrington Stanley