2011 Prediction League; Game 20 AFC Wimbledon (away)

Div3North · 04-12-2011, 22:32

AFC Wimbledon

V

Accrington Stanley

2011 Prediction League – Game 20; v AFC Wimbledon (away)

A question for you; Wimbledon (as in ‘won the FA Cup in 1988 by beating Liverpool 1-0 with a goal by Lawrie Sanchez' ) used to play at Plough Lane, in the London Borough of Merton; so where to AFC Wimbledon play now? Answer – Kingsmeadow, in Kingston-upon-Thames, which they bought from, and now share with, Kingstonian FC. Who knows their (main) sponsors? Answer – Sports Interactive (think ‘Championship Manager’ ……). Educational or what?

…………

Five promotions in nine seasons

(the last 4 ½ with Terry Brown as manager) resulted in them arriving in League 2 last May following a second place finish in the BSP (which I still call the Conference

); that led to a Play-Off Final against Luton, which finished 0-0 after 120 minutes, the Wombles winning the penalty shoot-out 4-3

, club captain Danny Kedwell hitting the winning penalty (and then being transferred to Gillingham for a reported fee of £60k

)

As well as Kedwell (67 goals for the Wombles in three seasons) they also lost midfielder Steven Gregory to Bournemouth; his career included spells at Havant and Waterlooville (“Give us an ‘H’ …….”; the only club where you’d want to hear that chant less would probably be Borussia Moenchengladbach

) and Hayes and Yeading. In came 19 year old ex-Bradford defender Chris Bush, Max Porter, a 23 year-old midfielder from Rushden and Diamonds, Charles Ademeno (22) a striker from Crawley (via one season at Grimsby), Kieran Djilali – a winger from Palace, who also had two loan spells at Chesterfield and played in pre-season alongside Bobby Grant and Jimmy Ryan at the Iron

, and ex Oxford, Histon, Bishop Stortford (and, including loans spells, eleven other clubs as well) striker Jack Midson (27). Add their one loan signing – West Ham's Callum McNaughton (19), a centre half (do they still have centre halves?

) whose greatest claim to fame to date was getting sent off for a “last man” tackle on Danny Hylton in his debut (and so far only) Hammers game when they lost to Aldershot in the Carling Cup game back in August (sounds like Kevin Long and Adam le Fallover last season

) – and you have one of the smaller squads in Div 2.

A season of two halves, really; out of all the Cups (the Carling in its (first-ever) Preliminary Round game against fellow promotion side Crawley (3-2); the JPT 3-1 on penalties at Swindon after a 1-1 draw – having seen off Stevenage 4-3 on pens in Round 1 following a 2-2 draw – and the FA Cup in Round 2 last Saturday 3-1 at Bradford (losing at Bradford? That’s worrying!

) after a 1-0 replay win at the Iron in Round 1, the first game having ended goalless), they’re now free to concentrate on the League. They started well

; their first 12 League games resulted in 7 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats, giving them 23 points and 3rd place behind Southend and Crawley

; since then it’s all gone belly-up – their last 7 League fixtures have seen them draw 0-0 at the Shrews, 1-1 against Barnet and the same against Swindon, but lose 3-2 at Burton, 4-0 at Torquay, 3-1 at Crewe and 5-2 at home to Crawley

; 7 games, 3 points, so that their overall record is now P19 W7 D5 L7 F29 A35 for 26 points and mid-table 13th, one point ahead of Crewe and Macclesfield and behind Port Vale on goal difference. If you add in the Cup games, their season reads P25 W9 D6 L10 F36 A45; at home in the League it’s 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses, 18 scored and 21 conceded

.

They’ve hit 4 goals once, 3 twice, 2 nine times, 1 eight times and not scored 5 times; against that, they’ve conceded 5 once

, 4 twice

, 3 a worrying 6 times

, 2 twice, one nine times and kept 5 clean sheets. Main scorers are the afore-mentioned Jack Midson with 11, ex Kingstonian midfielder Christian Jolley (it must be odd to sign for a new team and go to work at your former club’s ground!

) with 6, ex Ebbsfleet forward Luke Moore (23) with 4 (he was there when I part-owned the club, but I don’t remember him

), and 22 year-old midfielder Rashid Olatokunbo Yussuff (known, apparently, as “Toks” – don’t ask, I don’t know

) who started with Charlton and the Gills and played for England at u16 and u17 level, with 4; seven others have one or two, own goals making up the balance.

Of course, they only hit the Conference proper in 2009 (they stayed there just two years, one more than they spent in Conference South), so we have no relevant history against them; bragging rights on offer ……

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 10th December. They’re not on a good run – only one win since 8th October, only 3 home League wins in 10; we haven’t lost in our last four League games (2 wins, 2 draws; sound like a draw ……… they’ve scored 1 eight times and conceded 1 nine times …………… sounds like a one-all draw; unless Wynonie knows different ……….

Somebody’s got to get some Christmas Stuffing

; is this the week? Entries as soon as you like folks – it’s getting very tight at the top!

Good luck to everyone ………… and thanks for playing!