2023-24 Prediction League; Game 32 v AFC Wimbledon (home)

Div3North · 12-02-2024, 00:23

Accrington Stanley

V

AFC Wimbledon

Prediction League 2023/24 Game 32 v AFC Real Wombles (home)

You might happen have seen that Neil Warnock is the new Manager of Aberdeen (until the end of the season) ……. he claims an understanding of how passionate the fans there are from a trip to Tesco supermarket …. Nuff said! Big Neil has now managed 17 different non-League and League sides, three of them twice each, from Gainsborough to Cardiff to Leeds, to Huddersfield and back …..

It seems that he’s keen to win the Scottish Cup, and on Saturday last Aberdeen played their last-16 home tie which they managed to win 2-0 ………… and in the land of Rangers and Celtic, your first Starter for Ten; who did Aberdeen beat for their place in the Quarters? And while we’re discussing Scottish Cup competitions - Second Starter for Ten; in the upcoming Scottish Challenge Cup final who do Airdrieonians play?

When I caught up with the live score of our game at MK Dons, we were 1-0 up, I was the only predictor of that score. After 60 minutes of dreaming of glory, some idiot scored against us, and my 10 points became one ……… the mantle of dreams then passed to Watchdog, Mike A and Ange B (who all had one each apiece all-round) ………… and then on 90+3, one Joe Tomlinson dashed their hopes by scoring the winner …. (Thank You (not) to the Voodoo Gods of Football) …….. and several Non-Faith Keepers suddenly got an unwarranted TenFromLen bonus - viz ossy kid, teach and Kiwi …………. Pish! And possibly Tush! I preferred it when games only lasted 90 minutes maximum! Oh, and the bottom four sides in League Two lost again, leaving Donnie (who beat Tranmere) to open up a sneaky three point gap

Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, in south west London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons, totalling 1,140 acres. Putney Lower Common is set apart from the rest of the Commons by a minimum of 1 mile of the built-up western end of Putney.. Wimbledon Common is populated largely by strange furry pointy-nosed things who troll about picking up litter and appearing on TV; some of them occasionally play football

A windmill stands near the centre of Wimbledon Common, I’m told ….. there, Robert Baden-Powell wrote parts of ”Scouting for Boys”, which was published in 1908. Bet you didn’t know that! And as well, the Common is an important site for stag beetles ……….. Gosh, this is exciting ………. also, in 1885/86, Fulham FC’s home games were played on Putney Common (which is the largest ever recorded pitch size, resulting in turn in all the games ending 0-0 because no-one knew where the goals were!) ……… and did you see that Boyzone (the Irish boy band) are looking into taking over Chorley FC, so they are?

And you might have seen that AFC Wombles are at risk of having their record eclipsed by Farnham Town FC of the Combined Counties Premier Division South, who’ve started their season with 21 wins out of 21 and a stonking GD ……… if they beat Epsom and Ewell on Tuesday, they’ll overtake the Wombles’ record of 21 on the bounce which - and this is why I mention it - they achieved in the same League twenty years ago ….

Final Starter for Ten; what historical record do football legends Guy Branston and Delroy Facey share?

Founded on 30th May 2002, back at Plough Lane (at the Cherry Red Records Stadium), and managed currently by Johnnie Jackson, AFC Wimbledon currently hold the record for the longest unbeaten run of league matches in English senior football, having played 78 consecutive league games without a defeat between February 2003 and December 2004. They were the first club formed in the 21st century to make it into the Football League. They finished last season 21st in League Two with 48 points and a record of P46 W11 D15 L20 GF48 GA60 …………

I dealt last time with Discarded and Hired over the summer; since we last played (and you’ll recall that we smacked them 4-2 back in October (goals for us by Pritchard (2), Leigh and Hills) …….since the last match they’ve ProperSigned CB Joe Lewis from Stockport, striker Josh Kelly from Solihull Moors, and as a free agent, they brought in Irish LW Ronan Keating - sorry, Curtis . They’ve loaned in journeyman CB John-Joe O’Toole from Mansfield plus two others from Palace ….. and the best news from our point of view is that they sold their leading scorer Ali Al-Hamadi to Ipswich two weeks back; he had 13 goals in the League this season, and 17 in all competitions …………. leading scorer now is Uncle Bulgaria …………

Currently they’re 8th (and they and MK Dons are the sides we need to be beating to go up!) with a record of P30 W12 D10 L8 GF46 GA 34 for 46 points ………… Only lost 3 since the end of November - 0-1 at home to Sutton, 2-0 at Wrexham, and 3-1 at their Nemisises, viz the Plastic Wombles of Milton Keynes ….. lost in total four at home and four away; out of the FA Cup to Ipswich in Round Two, the EFL Cup to Chelsea in Round Two Too, and the Trophy in the Quarters, 3-1 at the Posh.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 13th February ………….. They’ve still got Harry Pell (at least until June) but no other “formers” of ours that I can see ……………. Four more departed managers though since I last trawled the deeps - Michael Appleton at Charlton, Darren Moore at Huddersfield, Andy Crosby at Portly Value, and a disappearing Jon Dahl Tomasson from Blackburn ………… This game’s certainly winnable (but then, so was MK Dons) ……….. And Neil Warnock’s Aberdeen trounced League Two Bonnyrigg Rose 2-0 at the weekend, and in the Scottish Challenge Cup Airdrie will play Welsh side TNS (who beat Falkirk amid a Gaelic-type punch-up) …… Question; who moved Wales?

And as for Branston and Facey, they’re the only two confirmed players to have played for (rather than just been on the books of) eight teams which have in their names the most common UK football suffixes - so City, United, Town, Athletic, Albion, Wanderers, Rovers and County, but not Argyle, Wednesday, Stanley etc …… Guy Branston played (amongst others) for Bradford City, Rotherham Utd, Aldershot Town, Oldham Athletic, Burton Albion, Wycombe Wanderers, Bristol Rovers and Notts County, while Delroy played for Huddersfield Town, Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Tranmere Rovers, Rotherham United, West Bromwich Albion and Notts County ……. but not, I think, at the same time as each other! But some record even so ……………

Good luck to everyone! ………… Keep your hair on! ……….And thanks for playing!