AFC WIMBLEDON v FLEETWOOD TOWN -- LEAGUE ONE FRIDAY 30th MARCH

Coming around to the last few weeks of the season and we're still not safe so every point will be priceless, starting with today's match at home against Fleetwood Town. Our form is a little patchy to say the least and will need to improve from it's current 'Win One, Lose One, Draw One' sequence if we want to retain our status in this division. A similar tale can be told for our opponents as they are in 17th place and only 3 points above us in the league table.  

FORM GUIDE
(Last 6 league matches, starting with the most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- LDWLDW
Fleetwood Town -- WWDDDL




LAST TIME OUT
AFC Wimbledon 0 Shrewsbury 1
Fleetwood Town 2 Northampton Town 0

Our narrow defeat last weekend against a top of the table team in Shrewsbury might have been viewed as decent however since we are now only two points off the bottom four in 19th place (42 pts) so need some points from the Easter campaign.

Fleetwood are currently 17th on 45 points and should be looking to move up too having secured a first home win against Northampton Town since October. The Dons should also be buoyant by the news that the work on the new stadium in Plough Lane is underway now and whatever else happens this season that is a big plus in our journey. Need a strong showing here against fellow strugglers, and time for Lyle Taylor to hit the back of the net again. 

Updates will be published with team news and more news as and when it comes through. 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON
Odds -- 5/4 (William Hill)

Long (GK),  Fuller ©,  Meades,  Oshilaja,  Nightingale,   Parrett,  Soares,  Kaja,  Trotter,  Forrester,  Taylor

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Robinson,  Francomb,  Abdou,  Barcham,  Kennedy,  Sam



FLEETWOOD TOWN
Odds -- 12/5 (William Hill)

Cairns (GK),  Coyle,  Eastham,  Pond ©,  Dempsey,  McAleny,  Bolger,  Diagouraga,  Madden,  Hunter,  Sowerby

Subs – Neal (GK),  Burns,  Jones,  Biggins,  Grant,  Hiwula,  Glendon



H/T Score – 0 - 1

First Half Comment;
As the game kicks off in heavy rain the tackles already flying in and Lyle Taylor goes sliding in but times it well. Could be interesting if someone gets one of those wrong later on this surface, referee is card happy too. Plenty of possession but little end product in the opening twenty mins to speak about hopefully it will improve soon. 

Typically a bad pass on this heavy ground was picked up by Fleetwood player who took it on and scored 0-1 Fleetwood (Jack Sowerby 22 mins).

The Dons try and fight back following that set back and have a few shots without troubling the Fleetwood keeper Cairns much, need to find our range soon. A few more tackles and a yellow card for Tom Soares and that's us one behind at half time.

F/T Score – 0 - 1

Match Summary;
Piss poor effort. Barely a shot on target to speak of, we look dire and are going down. Awful. Ardley must be on his last legs and we need some change.


My Man of the Match – George Long.

Referee – Our referee for this important League One fixture has been confirmed as Charles Breakspear who hails from Surrey and is fairly card happy so going to back the overs in the bookings markets and the Red Card shown too, he's a good lad though as he proved when sending off FIVE franchise scum players and officials in a match last December - well done.

Attendance – 4,378. Well done to those brave souls that turned up to witness that.

Next match:
Monday 2nd April vs Doncaster Rovers (Away)
League One 3:00pm

2018 KEMPTON PARK RACES -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #5 21st MARCH

So Cheltenham is over for another year and we all begin to look ahead to the 2019 festival. In the meantime we return here to Kempton Park on Wednesday nights and will soon have a Pontefract season to begin as well in April. This blog primarily follows the progress of handicap races on the Wednesday night races here at Kempton Park racecourse in Surrey. We've started the year reasonably well although it's a bit up and down this is only meeting five.  There are usually 4-5 handicap races covered and some Lay bets too with separate totals recorded to SP throughout the year. 

We are now into March and this will still only be week number five, though we began the year with a loss we clawed most of that back in week four and are now down -1.5 points to SP, early days and there is a long way to go but if we had recorded results to the prices taken we'd be up. 

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, off to a disappointing start this season though and as the favs are winning we are currently 1/4 going forwards with these for 2018. 

This Wednesday is meeting number five for the 2018 season and we are expecting an eight race card tonight with five handicaps to enjoy the action will commence at 17:45 with our first Handicap over a mile.

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 more chance of showers expected the top temperature will only be about 9C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our selections for tonight, bit rushed so only having time to confirm selections this evening;

17:45 -- 1m Handicap.
We open with a 14 runner mile handicap where the top weight KINGSTON KURRAJONG [WON 9/2] is of slight interest as he continues to drop in the weights, but preference is going to be for course and distance winners BALTIC PRINCE [2nd 16/1] along with LUNAR DEITY [3rd 6/1].

19:45 -- 7f Handicap.
SHYRON [7th 6/1] went close for us a couple of weeks back here and is given another chance to go one better in a similar race. There are plenty of course and distance winners here and one that does stand out is OUTER SPACE [4th 7/1] whose jockey claims 5lb and has won on him recently at Lingfield too.

20:15 -- 6f Handicap.
A dozen here for the sprint where last time out runner up BORN TO FINISH [9th 12/1] is one to consider only 1lb higher now for that short head defeat with some improvement for the run possible. 

BERNIE'S BOY [12th 8/1] is versatile in terms of trip and has a regular claimer on board to assist so certain to go on the short list against these.

20:45 -- 6f Handicap.
Interesting that De Sousa is booked for the bottom one BILLY'S BOOTS [7th 9/2] reasonably consistent type, and one the jockey can probably get a little more out of here. 

Also interested in HOME AGAIN [11th 16/1] as long as the 300 day rest isn't an inconvenience.

21:15 -- 1m 7f 218y Handicap.
Our finale tonight is the stayers contest, with a max field of 14 declared, THREE COLOURS RED [7th 4/1] ran a good race in defeat last time out a fortnight ago and is given a chance to go in tonight. 

At a big price GOLLY MISS MOLLY [12th 10/1] is not too far off her last winning mark and 20/1 is attractive for the win/place bet.


Staked -- 10 points.
Returns -- NIL points.

Results will appear here later on Wednesday night. We seek to recover from our current deficit of -1.5 points, alas no joy today outside of the places (and winner) in the first race, now down at -11.5 points. 

LAYS -- 1/4 if we have one or two Lays tonight they will be updated here also. Got one right for change, now 2/5

Tonight's Lays;
18:15 -- WEST WING LOST 6th 3/1.

Our sixth meeting here at Kempton Park will be in a few weeks time on 4th April so see you then.

EMIRATES FA CUP QUARTER FINAL WEEKEND 2018

This seasons FA Cup competition reaches the last eight, and all four ties will be shown live on either BT Sport or BBC so check the times below for details. We get underway in Wales with Swansea hosting Tottenham at 12:15 on Saturday.

Fixtures

Saturday 17 March 2018				Quarter Final
Kick Off	No.	Home		Away		Live on
12:15	1	Swansea City	VS	Tottenham Hotspur	Live on BT Sport 1	Live on BT Sport 1
19:45	2	Manchester United	VS	Brighton Hove Albion	Live on BT Sport 1	Live on BT Sport 1

Sunday 18 March 2018				Quarter Final
Kick Off	No.	Home		Away		Live on
13:30	4	Wigan Athletic	VS	Southampton	Live on BBC One	Live on BBC One
16:30	3	Leicester City	VS	Chelsea	Live on BBC One	Live on BBC One

SWANSEA  vs  TOTTENHAM 
I'm going to put my neck out and say that Swansea will find a way to beat Spurs, they have been in great form lately in the league and Spurs have begun to see their season fall apart as usual blowing a lead last week against Juventus and have hardly set the world alight in the recent rounds here struggling against lower league opposition and having to win through after a replay is hardly what you expect from a top four side. Spurs are also now without Harry Kane which surely is a big loss for them and I really fancy Swansea to get something here this afternoon. 

MANCHESTER UNITED  vs  BRIGHTON 
The evening game on Saturday night is a repeat of the 1983 final at the old Wembley and this should be a cracker, with a top class side against a team punching above their weight, Mourinho vs Houghton should be a good match up in the cup.

Even though they suffered a loss in the Champions League last week and Jose is a bit upset I expect United will start hot favourites and with a strong side should progress to the Semi Finals, Lukaku and Rashford should be too strong for the Brighton defence, back the over 2.5 goals here.



WIGAN ATHLETIC  vs  SOUTHAMPTON
Having put out Manchester City last time Wigan can take another premier league scalp as Southampton are in a terrible state and will surely be looking at their league status more than a cup run. The Saints manager has now been sacked with Mark Hughes taking over but will still be under pressure against Will Grigg and co who is on fire. 

Backing Wigan to win here, also backing the Penalty awarded and Red Card shown markets for a bit of fun. This game will be shown live on Sunday on BBC 1.


LEICESTER CITY  vs  CHELSEA
Our final tie of the weekend also shown live on BBC 1 features the last two winners of the League. Leicester will be hoping that Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez can join up to put away Antonio Conte's blues in what maybe a tactical affair. 

Chelsea should win here but I will be backing Jamie Vardy to score 1st goal, and also Willian to score at any time for Chelsea.


I hope that the Semi Final draw will be made when these games are concluded and not before but will wait and see. 

FA CUP SEMI FINAL DRAW (Confirmed)

MANCHESTER UNITED  vs  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
CHELSEA  vs  SOUTHAMPTON

Both ties to be played at Wembley in April.

CHELTENHAM NH FESTIVAL 2018 -- DAY FOUR FRIDAY (GOLD CUP DAY)

SIZING JOHN WINNING THE 2017 GOLD CUP

And here we are already the final day of the 2018 Festival and that means crowning a new Champion in the Gold Cup. Have a great Friday, bet sensibly. 

CHELTENHAM NH FESTIVAL – FRIDAY MARCH 16TH 2018
1.30pm 2m 1f Triumph Hurdle	JCB Triumph Hurdle And we’re off for the final day ... race one on Gold Cup Day. The Triumph hurdle always run at a sprint and unusually it's a fairly small select field of only nine runners. With the strongly supported Favourite APPLE'S SHAKIRA it may pay to look for something with a bit of value. Plenty of interest in the ex French STORMY IRELAND who won by 58L albeit a maiden hurdle Also of interest at a huge price is the Gary Moore trained SUSSEX RANGER who had a pipe opener on the flat over an inadequate trip and is still respected at 20/1. Result -- 1st : FARCLAS 9/1.
2.10pm 2m 1f County Hurdle	Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle (Handicap) If you thought the Triumph Hurdle was easy well it's about to get a lot worse beginning with the County Hurdle where 26 runners will now face the starter since I Shot The Sheriff is a non runner. BEN DUNDEE looks the pick the Gordon Elliott's trio here, his countryman Willie Mullins has five here where SANDSEND could be his best option.  The home challenge includes JENKINS from the Henderson yard and at a large price we go for STERNRUBIN 33/1 for Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson rides. Result -- 1st : MOHAAYED 33/1.
2.50pm 3m Albert Bartlett Novice's Hurdle	Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle Just 20 for this before we get to the big race of the day, 3m on this ground looks like a test although Nicky Henderson seems to dominate the market with his pair CHEF DES OBEAUX / SANTINI both about 5/1F. Looking at the rest of the field would be happy to back CALLET MAD here at 16/1 for the Twiston-Davies yard. Along with ENNISCOFFEY OSCAR who is guaranteed to stay and will relish the soft going at 20/1+ and had Callet Mad back in 4th when winning last time out. Result -- 1st : KILBRICKEN STORM 33/1.
3.30pm 3m 2f 110yds Gold Cup	THE CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP A big field of 18 for the feature race of the whole meeting, but will probably come down to the two principals of MIGHT BITE a progressive chaser and winner of the King George at Kempton along with NATIVE RIVER who was placed last year and can probably still improve . The return of EDWULF has the backstory that would fill the papers having been close to death following his collapse here last year, is not the force of the favs but worth a shout in an open renewal of the Gold Cup. Result -- 1st : NATIVE RIVER 5/1.
4.10pm 3m 2f 110yds Foxhunters Chase	Foxhunters Steeple Chase  Often referred to as the Amateurs Gold Cup this test of stamina on the same course and distance as the big race itself could . Have not seen much of the hunter chases this season so hard to know what to expect of the bulk of the field and with 24 runners it's going to be tricky.  WONDERFUL CHARM looks worth a go, has probably the best jockey available and has been winning hunter chases. Last years winner PACHA DU POLDER WON 25/1 will also be popular but has a different jockey this year and she is inexperienced though this didn't affect the horse when ridden by Victoria Pendleton two seasons back. EW Chance. Result -- 1st : PACHA DU POLDER 25/1.
4.50pm 2m 4f Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle	Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle 24 runner conditional jockeys affair named after the great trainer Martin Pipe, never been won by the son David and he is represented by the unbeaten MR BIG SHOT who surely has a good EW chance at 16/1. The Joseph O'Brien trained EARLY DOORS also looks well treated and can be backed along with Willie Mullins DEAL D'ESTRUVAL. Result -- 1st :BLOW BY BLOW 11/1.
5.30pm 2m 110yds Grand Annual Chase	Grand Annual Steeple Chase  The festival finale is the Grand Annual Chase, and we have a field of 24 for this declared overnight.  VANITEUX has had a wind operation and could be interesting here, along with NORTH HILL HARVEY who is a course and distance winner.  Big prices are plenty and nothing would really surprise here, FOREST BIHAN and ROCK THE WORLD could be worth a little place bet too Result -- 1st : LE PREZIEN 15/2. AND THAT'S YOUR LOT FOR THIS YEAR HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR 2018 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL

Results will appear here on Friday evening as I will be out all day enjoying the Gold Cup with my brother. Have a great day, you can rest tomorrow...until next time.