FA CUP 2017-18 FIFTH ROUND DRAW MONDAY 29th JANUARY [BBC 7pm]

Monday night and it's again time for the draw to be made for the 5th Round of this seasons FA Cup. Although the mighty Dons adventure in this competition is over we'll still see how the rest of competition plays out, you have Manchester City looking at four competitions with the League title virtually done and they final of the League cup to come soon the FA Cup could be give them a domestic treble and it wouldn't be a big shock if they made progress to the latter stages of the Champions League too.

We will update here on Monday night with the details of the 5th round draw while it's being made the coverage of which will begin shortly after 7pm and it is shown Live on the BBC's One Show. The draw itself should be conducted by former Chelsea / AC Milan star Ruud Guilet and he will be joined by former Leicester City midfield dynamo and ballroom dancer Robbie Savage. So good luck to all who remain especially Coventry City for dismissing the franchise outfit along with Wigan Athletic, Notts County and Newport who represent the lowest league side left in the competition. 

FA Cup Fifth Round Draw

     Chelsea   v   Hull City

     Leicester City   v   Sheffield United

     West Brom   v   Southampton

     Sheffield Wednesday   v   Notts County / Swansea

     Brighton   v   Coventry City

     Wigan   v   Manchester City

     Huddersfield / Birmingham City   v   Manchester United

     Millwall / Rochdale   v   Newport / Tottenham

Ties to be played over the weekend of 16th - 19th February and live games will be selected and announced later but will probably be the two Manchester sides and probably Tottenham games as usual.

2018 KEMPTON PARK RACES -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #2 24th JANUARY

Welcome to a new season for this blog which primarily follows the progress of handicap races on the Wednesday night races here at Kempton Park racecourse in Surrey. While last season was not our best by a long way we reset the counters and go again in 2018. There are usually 4-5 handicap races covered and some Lay bets too with separate totals recorded to SP. 


This is week two, last week was not the best of starts with only the one winner and a lost of -5.5 points, but there's a long way to go. 

As we continue to focus on the handicap contests for each Wednesday evening meeting we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if one is available. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1 point level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds than this but for the purpose of these results here we simply record SP returns only.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of short priced favourites too which wasn't too bad last year with 18 from 28 (64%) short price lays throughout the season. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures, again last week was not a great start for us as the selection managed to win (surprised it was 4/1, had expected about 5/4F but never mind) so 0/1 going forwards with these. 

This Wednesday is meeting number two for the 2018 season and we are expecting a seven race card tonight with five handicaps to enjoy, tonight's action will commence at 16:40 with our first Handicap over 6f.

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard to slow' and the current weather forecast for this Wednesday is for a cold winters day with heavy showers expected the top temperature will only be about 8C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our selections for tonight;

16:40 -- 6f Handicap.
Tonight's card begins with a class 7 handicap over 6f and a field of 12 declared to consider, low grade but something has to win. A couple of outsiders have course and distance winning form albeit not too recent but these very low grade affairs could bring up a surprise winner so selecting both ONLY TEN PER CENT [6th 8/1] and DIVINE CALL [3rd 12/1] at 20/1 against the field in a race that's best left to low stakes.

18:15 -- 1m Handicap London Mile Series Qualifier (3yo).
Eleven three year olds line up for the mile handicap and it's nicely open, with top weight CARP KID [3rd 11/2] a recent runner up here off similar mark and given a chance to put his head in front. Another selection with a similar profile is FAR DAWN [5th 4/1] another recent runner up (Southwell) and gets 3lb so should go fairly close again.

18:45 -- 1m Handicap.
Another mile contest but open to all ages this time, fourteen to look at we start at recent course winner HAPPY ESCAPE [WON 11/2] would started his 2018 off with a win, and along with MAGIC MIRROR [6th 7/2] who picked up a couple of similar races towards the end of last year and could go well again while in good heart.


19:15 -- 7f Handicap.
Relatively small field here with just eight standing in which SPUN GOLD [6th 7/2] looks a good bet having improved to win his last two events and just a 6lb penalty might be worth sticking with while in good order. 

Top weight INAAM [5th 12/1] has the benefit of a 7lb claimer who has been on board the last two rides and that will aide his chances based on his runner up effort at Wolves.

19:45 -- 1m 3f 219y Handicap.
Our finale tonight a max field of 14 and a chance for THAQAFFA [WON 11/2] to double up on the course win a couple of weeks ago beating a large field and along with DEELEYS DOUBLE [5th 2/1F] who has a similar task too but doesn't quite have the same level of experience but is still interesting.

Staked -- 10 points.
Returns -- 13 points.

Results will appear here later on Wednesday night. Hurrah a win that was most welcome, a profit of +3 points thus reduces our loss after week 2 down to a more respectable -2.5 points.  

LAYS -- 0/1 after last weeks first one managed to win, oh well it happens, if we have one or two Lays tonight they will be updated here also. 

Tonight's Lays;
17:15 -- ARTIESHOW [WON 9/4].
17:45 -- HOLY SHAMBLES [LOST 5th 9/4].


One win, One lost, so 1/3 after week two.

Our third meeting here at Kempton Park will be in a few weeks time on Wednesday 21st February see you then.

2018 NFL DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
SUNDAY 21st JAN 20:05

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 20 @ 24 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS  




The AFC Championship game takes place first this Sunday and will be the Patriots 7th successive title game. Having beaten Tennessee Titans 35-14 last Saturday the Patriot's will now face the Jacksonville Jaguars at their Gillette stadium for a place in this season's Super Bowl LII. The Jags themselves put in another impressive performance to see off the Pittsburgh Steelars 45-42 and the scoreline flatters the Steelars who were always chasing the game and only scored a touchdown with one second remaining to make it look respectable. Even so Tom Brady's Pats will be a short price to go to yet another Superbowl but anything is possible.

New England win 24 - 20 to reach yet another Superbowl with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick setting yet more records on the way. And they will be up against the Philadelphia Eagles!!



NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 
SUNDAY 21st JAN 21:40

MINNESOTA VIKINGS 7 @ 38 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES




Later on Sunday night we'll find out whether the Minnesota Vikings can make some history by becoming the first side to appear in a Superbowl at their home stadium, but to do that and reach Superbowl LII they'll need to conquer the Eagles who despite losing their star quarterback Carson Wentz are still getting the job done. Back up Nick Foles is now one win away from glory which is remarkable as he nearly retired only two seasons ago. This game is too close to call, home advantage might not be enough to swing it for the Eagles though as they've had a tendency to turnover the ball too much and I personally think that the Vikings, with Case Keenum calling the shots, have been the better side all season offensively and defensively although should be a cracking game. 

Vikings vs Patriots in the Superbowl is my call. We will see.

We shall update the final scores later over the weekend and then look forward to the Superbowl itself in a couple of weeks time, that will be LIVE on BBC TV here in the UK which is great. 

2018 NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF WEEKEND

As we head closer to the end of season and Superbowl LII we are down to the final eight teams who will contest the Divisional Playoff games this weekend and put themselves into the Championship games for the right to play in the finale at Minnesota's US Bank Stadium on February 4th. 

We can expect some cracking games this weekend and can Minnesota beat New Orleans to put themselves one game away from appearing at their own stadium in the Superbowl, if they can then they'll be the first team to do this. I fancy Atlanta to beat off Philadelphia who are suffering the loss of their star quarterback Carson Wentz, and expect them to join New England, Pittsburgh and Minnesota in the last four.


ATLANTA FALCONS 10 @ 15 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 
[SATURDAY 13th JAN 9:35PM GMT]
Atlanta lost the Eagles 10-15 in a game of turnovers and defence with the second half only providing two Eagles field goals to trouble the scoreboard. Atlanta had a 10-9 half time lead so missed a good chance here. 

TENNESSEE TITANS 14 @ 35 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
[SUNDAY 14th JAN 1:15AM]
No surprises here as Tom Brady and the Patriots demolished the Titans 14-35 most of the damage was inflicted in the second quarter with Brady supplying three touchdowns and after that they never looked in danger of surrendering their lead. 

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 45 @ 42 PITTSBURGH STEELERS
[SUNDAY 14th JAN 6:05]

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 24 @ 29 MINNESOTA VIKINGS
[SUNDAY 14th JAN 9:40]

Will update with the final scores later over the weekend and then look forward to the AFC and NFC Championship next Sunday 21st January.

2018 NFL LONDON SERIES GAMES ANNOUNCED

The NFL Games in London have been a big success over the last few years and what started out as an experiment is really an established series of fixtures in the regular season calendar. In recent years this was extended to four games here in London at Wembley, Twickenham and we'll soon see another site added when Tottenham Hotspur open their newly revamped White Hart Lane ground. It will be good to have this announced so early and have something to look ahead to once the play offs and Superbowl LII are concluded in the coming weeks.

Here are the confirmed games for 2018, dates will be confirmed later, but as always demand is sure to be high and full houses guaranteed. 

Tottenham Hotspur will host Seattle Seahawks vs Oakland Raiders on 14th October at the redeveloped White Hart Lane.

Wembley Stadium will host games between Philadelphia Eagles against the Jacksonville Jaguars as well as the match between Tennessee Titans and the LA Chargers later in October. Dates to be confirmed later but are expected to be the 21st and 28th October. 


There appears to be only the three games this year instead of the four we used to have and Twickenham is off the calendar I suppose with Spurs having a 10 year deal with the NFL that was to be expected. 

2018 KEMPTON PARK RACES -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #1 10th JANUARY

Welcome to a new season for this blog which primarily follows the progress of handicap races on the Wednesday night races here at Kempton Park in Surrey. While last season was not our best by a long way we reset the counters and go again in 2018. There are usually 4-5 handicap races covered and some Lay bets too with separate totals recorded to SP. 


This is week one, last year we covered thirty five evening meetings and also took in the King George VI meeting on Boxing Day. 

As we plan to focus on the handicap contests for each meeting we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if available. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1 point level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of these results here we simply record to SP returns.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of short priced favourites too which wasn't too bad last year with 18 from 28 (64%) short price lays throughout the season. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures. 

This Wednesday is meeting number one for the 2018 season and we are expecting a seven race card tonight with four handicaps to enjoy, tonight's action will commence at 16:15 with our first Handicap over 7f.

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard' and the current weather forecast for this Wednesday is for a cold yet sunny winters day the top temperature will only be about 8C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our selections for tonight;

16:15 -- 7f Handicap.
A class 7 event to start us off with so nothing outstanding to look at where at least SPARE PARTS [WON 6/4F] has a recent win on the AW to his name and can double up in this weak affair. 

At a decent each way price BINGO GEORGE [Last 10/1] can be considered as he's at least won a contest and has plenty of experience together with a decent jockey too so 20/1 looks interesting.

17:45 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
Another low grade event with a field of 13 lining up for us, nothing truly inspires us but a case can be made for both COLOURFUL CAREER [5th 10/1] and MULLARKEY [7th 11/2] as both are last time out winners and have a several place efforts in their form off similar marks so will take the pair against the field tonight.

18:45 -- 6f Handicap.
ROBBIE ROO ROO [9th 5/1] A dual winner here and available at 16/1 too with Graham Lee a good jockey booking. WHO TOLD JO JO [5th 11/1] is also a dual winner on the flat albeit at Windsor and Ripon off higher marks, has also had a break and hopeful of good showing at a big price.

19:15 -- 1m 3f 219y Amateur Riders Handicap.
Our finale tonight has a field of 11 to peruse, a race for amateur riders where Jamie Osborne saddles EVERY CHANCE [2nd 9/2] who must have every chance tonight is well drawn and has won on the AW tracks with regular places too should be right there. 

ELTEZAM [4th 9/4] is another with a decent chance having been rated in the 100s after his early success and has found that difficult to work from so now rated 80 is entitled to go well too.

Staked -- 8 points.
Returns -- 2.5 points.

Results will appear here later on Wednesday night. Just the one winner and so we start the year with a loss, down 5.5 points to a 1pt level stake.

LAYS -- If we have one or two Lays tonight they will be updated here too.

Tonight's Lays; 0/1
MYTHMAKER -- 18:15 6f Conditions Race (Won 4/1 damn).

Our next meeting here at Kempton Park will be in a couple of weeks time on Wednesday 24th January.

FA CUP 2017-18 FOURTH ROUND DRAW MONDAY 8th JANUARY [BBC 2 7pm]

On Monday night it will be time for the draw to be made for the 4th Round of this seasons FA Cup. After our not so unexpected loss to Tottenham the Dons are no longer in the competition but would be interesting to see who the victors draw all the same.

We will update here on Monday night with the details of the 4th round draw while it's being made  the coverage of which will begin shortly after 7pm and it is shown Live on the BBC2 channel. Mark Chapman our regular host with former players and multiple FA Cup winner Dennis Wise and runner up Rio Ferdinand on hand to perform the draw so good luck to all who remain especially former winners Coventry City who dispatched Stoke City and Newport who beat the mighty Leeds United and Nottingham Forest who knocked out the holders Arsenal over the weekend to progress. 

FA Cup Fourth Round Draw

     Liverpool   v   West Brom

     Peterborough United   v   Fleetwood Town / Leicester City

     Huddersfield Town   v   Birmingham City

     Notts County   v   Wolves / Swansea

     Yeovil Town   v   Manchester United

     Carlisle United / Sheff Wed   v   Stevenage / Reading

     Cardiff City / Mansfield Town   v   Manchester City

     Franchise FC   v   Coventry City

     Millwall   v   Rochdale

     Southampton   v   Watford

     Middlesbrough   v   Brighton / Crystal Palace

     Bournemouth / Wigan   v   Shrewsbury T  / West Ham

     Hull City   v   Nottingham Forest

     Newport County   v   Tottenham Hotspur

     Norwich / Chelsea   v   Newcastle United

     Sheffield United   v   Preston North End

Ties to be played over the weekend of 26th - 29th January and live games to be selected and announced later.

FA CUP 3RD ROUND -- WIMBLEDON vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR SUNDAY 7th JANUARY 2018

Happy New Year and that means that it is time for the FA Cup Third round weekend. The draw made last month has given us an exciting trip away to TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR which this season of course means a trip to Wembley for the Dons. 

Great to play one of the big sides as we remember how well we did to run Liverpool close a few years back, but away games in a big stadium would usually mean a decent pay day for us however with ticket prices set surprisingly very low and Wembley unlikely to be fully open we will have to beat Spurs and take the prize money. Sadly no TV income from this one and with Spurs playing West Ham on the Thursday this match has been moved to Sunday afternoon.

FORM GUIDE 
(Last 6 matches in their respective leagues, starting with most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- WDLWLL
Tottenham Hotspur -- DWWWLW





LAST TIME OUT
AFC Wimbledon 2 Southend United 0

Tottenham 1 West Ham United 1

A Happy New Year to all Dons fans out there, and traditionally the first full weekend of the year is FA Cup 3rd round day. We got drawn at Spurs, so are Wembley bound, and arrive here after a mixed holiday fixture list that started well with a win against a high flying Bradford side, then a disappointing loss to Portsmouth and a draw against Gillingham before the new years day victory against Southend United 2-0 yet we remain in the bottom four albeit only by a point and with a game in hand. Putting the league to one side and the FA Cup gives us a good day out but realistically an upset is unlikely even if Spurs put out a so called weakened team it'll be full of internationals, we did however beat their Academy U23 side 4-3 earlier in the season as part of the Checkatrade Trophy pool games. 

Updates will be published with team news and more news as and when it comes through, Kane starts up front for Spurs with Alli, Eriksen and Son on the bench. Dons have their captain Barry Fuller back and will rely on the threat of Taylor and Barcham who was on the books at Spurs as a youngster. 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 33/1 (Ladbrokes / Corals) 

Long (GK),  Fuller (c),  Charles,  Deji,  Meades,  Francomb,  Abadou,  Soares,  Trotter,  Barcham,  Taylor.

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Nightingale,  McDonald,  Forrester,  Kaja,  Kennedy,  Hartigan

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Odds -- 1/10 (Generally) 

Vorm (Gk),  Trippier,  Foyth,  Vertonghen,  Walker-Peters,  Sissoko,  Wanyama,  Dembélé,  Lamela,  Kane,  Llorente

Subs – Lloris (Gk),  Nkoudou,  Dier,  Alli,  Eriksen,  Davies,  Son Heung-min

H/T Score – 0 - 0

First Half Comment;
AFC Wimbledon kick off and we are underway at Wembley for the 3rd round, it's a strong Spurs line up with only the change in goalkeeper and couple of outfield players rested, Kane starting is a surprise to me but does show the respect that they are giving us and the competition. Harry Kane linking well with Lamela and Trippier early on but yet to trouble Long in the Dons goal in the early exchanges.

Couple of chances for Spurs as the opening fifteen minutes pass by, Long making a couple of comfortable saves and the only rare forays forward by Wimbledon are quickly snuffed out but it's a good start and we'll find our way into the game yet. The commentary on BBC Radio 5 extra is very patronising even to the point of being surprised how many fans we have .... erm we sold out our allocation in about 30 minutes mate if they had opened up the top tier we would have sold that out too as well. Still all square as Harry Kane skies another shot high over the bar.

Dons at last start to make something happen and win a couple of corners which sadly doesn't amount to much, still annoying to see Lyle Taylor take corners when he is meant to be the main forward. A quick break by Dons and Jimmy Abdou hits the crossbar from the edge of the box, possibly a great save by goalkeeper Vorm, only fifteen minutes till half time and still 0-0 a good effort so far, must keep our composure while continuing to frustrate our Premier League opponents.

While the stats show Spurs have about 80% possession they have only had a couple of shots on target for Long to save, so well done Dons this half and of course came closest to score with that earlier effort hitting the bar not long till half time the fans have also been awesome with non stop support. 

F/T Score – 3 - 0

Match Summary;
Spurs kick off the second half here with the Dons fans still in good voice, haven't heard much from the Spurs fans even when they are on the attack, typical Premier League customers I guess. Lyle Taylor sets up Andy Barcham early on but he makes a mess of that cross then Barry Fuller tries his luck but wins a throw. Good start to the second half from the Dons who must be feeling good after their half time pep talk from Neal Ardley. The first booking of the match goes to Spurs Victor Wanyama and following the free kick another chance for Wimbledon saved from Darius Charles, exciting start with Wimbledon creating chances now as well. 

Sadly Harry Kane manages to deflect a couple of goals in succession to put the game away, we held out for an hour though and still proud of the efforts here against a top quality Premier League side. The Jan Vertonghen scores a screamer from 30 yards his first goal for Spurs in just over 4 years.

My Man of the Match – Harry Kane, always a threat and was bound to score in his current rich vein of form.

Referee -- Our referee for this important third round FA Cup tie has been confirmed as David Coote who hails from Nottinghamshire and has been on the referee's list since 2010.

Attendance – 47,527. (more than 7,000 Dons fans)

Next match:
Saturday 13th January vs Franchise Scum FC (Away)
League One 3:00pm