[Div3North]

AFC Wimbledon

V


Accrington Stanley

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 11; v AFC Wimbledon (away)

Everyone knows the history; Crazy Gang win the FA Cup, last outrageously long in the (old) First Division, somebody moves Wimbledon to Buckinghamshire, and AFC Wimbledon is formed in May/June 2002 . They have public trials (230 to pick from ), and select a squad for the 2002-3 season; they survive . Their progress up the Leagues from there was astonishing; in 2003/4 they won the Combined Counties League Premier Division; the next year they won the Isthmian League Div One; after three years they win the Premier Division Play-off, get promoted to Conference South, and promptly win that at the first time of asking; from nowhere to Conference National in seven years …………..

During that period they set a new record for the longest run of unbeaten League games at any level of senior football in the UK – 78, over a period from 22.2.03 to 4.12.04 ; not that that was enough, of course; in 2010/11 they qualified for the Playoffs and, drawn against Fleetwood in the semis, they did them by a record aggregate score (2-0 and 6-1 ). They met Luton in the Final at the City of Manchester Stadium, and – after a goalless game – they took it 4-3 on penalties ; from Nowhere to the Football League in 9 years …….

Not counting caretakers (both of whom have won 50% or more of their games in charge), they’ve only had four managers; Terry Eames won 75 of 96 (78.13% winning record ); Dave Anderson won 110 of 185 (59.46% ); Terry Brown won 152 of 304 (50% ); and Neal Ardley – ex player, now manager – has 17 wins from 50 games (being appointed a year ago today – 10th October) – a dreadful 34% ……………..

In 2011/12 they started with 7 wins from 12, but eventually had to settle for (a very respectable) 16th place – 10 points above the drop zone; last season (“second season syndrome” ) they went into their last game, at home to Fleetwood, in the drop zone ; they needed a win, and other results to work out for them; the other results did, and they got the win (2-1) with a 72nd-minute Jack Midson penalty ………. And who conceded said penalty? Then Fleetwood defender Rob Atkinson ………………..! And who got the Fleetwood equaliser? One Andy Mangan ……………….! Ain't it a small world?

They shipped out the usual droves of players in the summer; most of them went non-League, to such exotic places as Hayes and Yeading, Poole Town, Tamworth, Dartford, Ebbsfleet (“Own the Club, Pick the Team” – Flying Pigs we did ……!), Braintree and Staines Town; LB Chris Hussey went to Burton Albion; CB Pim Balkestein (26) went home, joining VVV-Venlo (Venlose Voetbal Vereniging Venlo) in the Jupiler League (“Give us a “V” …….), who got relegated at the end of last season from the Dutch Premier League (Eredivisie) to the First Division (Eerste Divisie); and RB Curtis Osano went all the way to India to sign for Bengaluru FC (based in Bangalore), whose (new) manager is ex-Crewe, Bradford, Sheff Wed, Northampton, Stevenage, Wrexham (and all stations West) player – and short-lived Kettering Player-manager Ashley Westwood

They certainly targeted their purchases/loan signings; two GKs (Aldershot’s Ross Worner, and 41 year-old journeyman Ashley Bayes, now with his 12th club this time as player-coach); three RBs – Norwich’s George Francomb (21), Barnet’s Barry Fuller (28), and Rhys Weston (32) – Cardiff, Walsall, Dundee, Viking FK (Norway) and KR Reykjavik – who they signed from Malaysian State side Sabah FA (think “North Borneo”, really); the Malaysian game is a bit like the Sheffield Shield ……And as if that wasn’t enough FBs, they also signed two LBs (Callum Kennedy from the Iron, and Gillingham’s Andy Frampton (I’m sure he was the lead singer with The Herd ………); one non-League MF , and then they topped the lot off with 3 centre forwards ………..George Porter (21) from Burnley; Teddy Sheringham’s lad Charlie (25), who’s played in Welling, Dartford, Bishop Stortford, Bournemouth, and for Crystal Palace’s one-time American arm (or is that “franchise”?) “Crystal Palace Baltimore” (doesn't have a great ring to it .....) ; and Charlton’s 21 year-old Michael Smith (think “Stanley 4 Gillingham 3, Leam’s first game in charge, first-half hat-trick” ) ....... Smith and Porter are on loan

They’re not so hot away from home this season – W1 D1 L3; at home, though, it’s P5 W4 L1; overall, P10 W5 D1 L4 F12 A11 for 16 points and 11th place; it’s worth noting that there are 3 teams with 16, 2 with 17 and 2 more with 18; that said, they’ve contrived to lose three of their last 4 in the League (all without scoring – 0-2 at home to the Cobblers, 0-1 at Cheltenham, and 0-2 at Chesterfield); in addition to that, they’re out of both the Cup competitions so far played – 2-1 at Millwall in the Capital Punishment Cup , and 5-3 at Brentford in the Johnstone’s PaintPot ……….their 16 goals in their 12 games have been spread around 9 players; leading scorers are Michael Smith with 5, Harry Pell with 3 and Luke Moore with 2 …………as long as Rob doesn’t give away another late penalty to them ……….Oh, and Jack Midson has just the one goal ………….so far.

And now the good news ; in 2011/12 we beat them 2-0 away (Morecambe Legend Padraig Amond and Craig Lindfield scoring) and 2-1 at home (Joyce and Hatfield); last season we won 2-1 away (Amond and Murphy) and 4-0 at home (TheFoxInTheBox scoring twice, plus Hatfield (again), and Lee Molyneux ; whatever happened to him? Whatever happened to TheFoxInTheBox? P4 W4 F10 A2 for 12 points and Bragging Rights par excellence ………….When does the fightback start, Wynonie?

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 12th October. 3 points at the moment can put you up or down several places in the League, or (in our case) kick-start your season ; logic says that every team – bar maybe a couple – will have a bad spell; we just had ours earlier than most!

Good luck to everyone ……… Remember; Passion overcomes Logic…………Keep the Faith!.....… and thanks for playing!