Former midfielder Lee Minshull shares memories of his years with Ramsgate and AFC Wimbledon before their FA Cup second-round clash at Plough Lane

Lee Minshull could do with a half-and-half scarf when he settles down to watch AFC Wimbledon v Ramsgate in the FA Cup Second Round.

Work commitments prevent Minshull being at Plough Lane on Monday night but he’ll be tuning in on ITV4 as two of his old clubs lock horns.

Both mean a lot to the former midfielder, with Rams plucking him from Sunday League football in 2005 and helping him become the player who won promotion to the Football League with the Dons in 2011, via a spell at Tonbridge.

“It’s hard to pick between them because they both had such an important impact in my career,” said Minshull, 38.

“Ramsgate shaped the start of it and if I hadn’t met the people I met and done what I did there, I don’t think the rest would have happened.

“So that was a real key moment in my life and my career to end up where I ended up.

“And with Wimbledon taking a punt on me, I don’t know if anyone else would have taken me on full-time other than Wimbledon at that time.

“To be there when the club got back in the Football League after nine years and for them to give me the opportunity, I remember that fondly as well.

“That was a big moment in my life and my career.”

The FA Cup tie would have been the perfect opportunity for Minshull, a quantity surveyor in London these days, to pay his first visit to Plough Lane.

They were playing at Kingsmeadow during his Dons years between 2010 and 2012, while the club worked on plans for a new stadium near the site of their original home.

A trip to the ground will have to wait but with the game picked for live TV coverage, Minshull is intrigued to see what happens.

League 2 Wimbledon are big favourites but Isthmian South East leaders Rams – the lowest-ranked team left in the competition - can take