[Div3North]

AFC Wimbledon

V

Accrington Stanley

2015/16 Prediction League; Playoff Shootout 1 v Wombles (away)


I have this recurring nightmare (following the other recurring nightmare – where we drew 0-0 at home to Stevenage and Oxford and BrizzleRov both won, perish the thought!) ……… it involves our old mate You Fat Bastard flying horizontally through the air – all 55 stone of him – and planting a thumping header in the top left corner of our net with 15 seconds left on the clock ………. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We’re back by public demand (well, Leylandii’s demand) for the run-in to our promotion to League One; this is a Sudden Death Shoot Out Competition – same rules, but with twiddly bits; for THIS GAME you’ll score a bonus point for each of Stanley’s goal scorers whom you correctly name in your post (so no default guesses will apply, then); if you think Billy Whizz will get two, and Shay McCartan the other three, include “Kee 2 McCartan 3”, or “Kee, Kee, McCartan, McCartan, McCartan” (or “Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub”) in your prediction ………….and if you think that’s daft, just wait and see what we’ve dreamed up for game 2, and the Wembley Final!

Head to head favours us, historically; W6 D2 L2 …in fact, though, our 6 wins came in the first 7 League meetings, and they only first beat us (2-1) at their place in season 2014/15. However, they followed that up by winning at ours on Tuesday 20th October 2015 (4-3, after we’d been ahead 2-0 and 3-1; our goals from Billy Whizz (2) and Sean McConville), and then holding us to a goalless return visit on what is officially to be renamed “Trevor Kettle Day” in parts of South-West London (5th March), when not only did Mr KitchenAppliance blow for half time when Kee’s goal-bound shot was en route in mid air into the net, but he also sent off GK Ross Etheridge for handball – albeit that it was, perhaps, a few hundred yards outside the area.

After the goalless draw, Manager of the Month Neal Ardley said;

• "Credit to our boys. It's a good point. We didn't create bundles, we weren't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination
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• "Accrington are a very open, free-flowing team and they've carved a lot of teams open this season. "

This week’s starter for 10, then; AFC Wimbledon’s mascot is Haydon the Womble (named after the local railway station, it seems) ……. But who is (or was) Wandle the Womble?

All the playoff sides have hit form around the right time, and Cairngorm the MacWomble the Terrible (oh yes there is!) and his side are no exception; their home record over the season is W11 D4 L9; their last 16 show 8 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses, and their last 8 have resulted in 6 wins, one draw (0-0 at …… you couldn’t invent this! …Stevenage) and a single loss (0-1 v Pompey) ………. Wimbledon, in those 8 games, have score two goals three times (all away from home), one goal three times (all at home) and no goals twice (see “lost to Pompey and drew at Stevenage” above) ………. To put that another way, in their last six games – if they’ve scored, they’ve won, which is a statistic to remember.

In the Cups, they succeeded in reaching Round One each time, but never Round Two; Carling – lost 1-0 at Cardiff; PaintyThingy – lost 3-2 at home to Plymouth; FA Cup – lost 2-1 at home to Forest Green – a result that they may well have the chance to repeat next season, Deo Volente, if Forest Green beat Grimsby on Sunday ………… and did you all see that AFC Fylde are in the Conference North Playoff Final the day before, against North Ferriby?) Total goals then are 64 in the League and 3 in the Cups ……….leading scorers for the Common-dwellers are Lyle Taylor with 20, Azeez with 7 and my mate YFB with 6, all of whom clearly need marking ………….or handcuffing …..or having leg-irons applied in the centre circle …………because, based on the last 8 games, If They Score, They Win!

Over the season their record was P46 W21 D12 L13 GF64 GA50 for 75 points and, as we know, 7th place; we won three more than them, drew one more, and lost four fewer; we scored 10 goals more than them, and conceded two fewer …….all of that said, Neal Ardley-Goodenough is apparently “relaxed”;

• "I'm trying to take the attitude 'what will be, will be’. I’m relaxed but at the same time focussed. If we don't put in a high-level performance, and maybe get a slice of luck along the way, then we’re not going to achieve our dreams. You want to get as much as you can, and as good as a performance as we can, out of the first game. You can't pre-empt the second leg."

“Slice of luck”? What about TK’s “Jack Taylor” moment – that’s a slice of luck big enough to feed the whole of Wimbledon on!
Deadline for Shoot-Out entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.30pm on Saturday 14th May; nothing you may score will alter your final position in Chimer’s League Table of Shame (well, it is in my case!) …..this one’s just for fun – unlike the bloody game!

Good luck to everyone! …………… Keep the Faith! ………… And thanks for playing!

Oh – and Wandle the Womble (named after the River Wandle) was the Old Original Wimbledon’s mascot (2000 – 2003), before they morphed into Milton Keynes Dons