AFC WIMBLEDON v OXFORD UNITED LEAGUE ONE SUNDAY 29th DECEMBER 2019

This weekend the Dons will play host to Oxford United in League One, coming on the back of a 2-1 victory against Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day the busy Christmas period could see us move away a little more from the relegation places after that last game the Dons lay in 18th place on just 23 points. Oxford now managed by ex Franchise Karl Robinson are doing better than expected recently securing a 1-0 win against Wycombe only their second defeat of the season. We need Marcus Forss and Joe Pigott to find their goal scoring form again soon and hopefully we can keep Forss for the rest of the season as we keep hearing Brentford might have him back in January. Off the field it continues to be a difficult period for the Dons Trust members who are still discuss the finances of the new stadium and the consequences of being a fans owned league club with a new stadium to build more on that development as it unfolds.

FORM GUIDE

(Last 6 matches in league one, starting with the most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- WLWDWL
Oxford United -- WWLDWD

LAST TIME OUT

Bristol Rovers 1  AFC Wimbledon 2
Oxford United 1  Lincoln City 0

Updates will be published with team news and more as and when it comes through. Our opponents Oxford themselves won 1-0 at home against Lincoln on Boxing Day and are currently 3rd in the league on 36 points so they will be looking to reassert their dominance against us (remembering how it took us many years to even score against them back in the old conference days). I would therefore obviously expect Oxford to start this match as warm favourites, one of their key players this season has been Ben Woodburn on loan from Liverpool but he is currently out injured, so up steps Tariqe Fosu Henry to fill the strikers boots while defender John Mousinho takes the captains armband. Hopefully we can use the win at Bristol to regain some confidence and keep other sides firmly below us in the league table, won't be easy but as any Wimbledon fan knows it never is!

Starting Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 3/1 (William Hill) 

Trott (Gk),  O'Neill,  McDonald,  Thomas,  🟨Rudoni,  Sanders, ⚽McLoughlin,  Reilly,  🟨Guinness-Walker,  Forss, ⚽Pigott (c)

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Pinnock,  Wood,  Osew,  Delaney,  Hartigan,  Biler

OXFORD UNITED 
Odds -- 5/6 (William Hill) 

Archer (Gk),  Long,  Dickie,  Moore,  Ruffels,  🟨Brannagan,  Gorrin,  ⚽Sykes,  Hall,  Baptiste,  Mackie

Subs –  Stevens (Gk),  Cadden,  Taylor,  Fosu-Henry,  Mousinho,  Henry,  Agyei

Selected Bets on today's match;

Wimbledon to win and BOTH teams to score @5/1.
Marcus Forss or Tariqe Fosu Henry to score 1st Goal @5/1.
Penalty Awarded and Scored @9/2.
Red Card in the match @11/2.

⚽H/T Score – 0 - 1  [McLoughlin [og] 26']

First Half Comment;

Oxford kick off the final league game of 2019, and it's Wimbledon that offer the first attacking threat in the opening ten minutes and the visitors Cameron Brannagan picks up the first booking after seven minutes. Cannot make the breakthrough though and the longer it goes the more Oxford come into it. Wimbledon eventually fall behind to an own goal when Shane McLoughlin the guilty party so we need to come from behind again like we did against Bristol. Towards the end of the half attempts from Thomas, O'Neill are foiled by the Oxford keeper and Nesta Guinness-Walker gets a booking as Dons remain a goal down at half time.

⚽F/T Score – 1 - 2   [Pigott 47']    [Sykes 61']

Match Summary;

We lost, all the work at Bristol undone again, fed up with this lot now, and while they keep asking us for money over and over for the stadium they put out a shit performance like this. Roll on Southend on New Years Day and if we cannot beat them ...

My Man of the Match – Terell Thomas.

Referee -- Our referee for this afternoon's League One game will be Sam Purkiss who returns from League Two duties and last took charge of a Dons game in our 1-0 victory over Portsmouth. Averages about 3 bookings a game and has not yet shown a red card this season but that could always change against a Karl Robinson side. His touchline assistants this afternoon will be Gregory Read and Paul Yates.

Attendance – 4,763. 

Next league match:
Wednesday 1st January vs Southend United (Home)
League One Kick off 3:00pm

KEMPTON PARK BOXING DAY 'KING GEORGE VI' MEETING 2019

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

The year feels like it's flown by once again and here we are looking at the end of December with our disappointing season on the flat already finished at Kempton so a nice change of pace as we return today over the jumps for one more big meeting. The annual Boxing Day NH meeting at Kempton Park will be our final event till next year comes around and it of course will feature the renewal of the King George VI Chase and supporting Grade 1 event the Christmas Hurdle.

Will Paul Nicholls win again with last years winner CLAN DES OBEAUX can he rise to the occasion again for a repeat win or will we see another superstar in the making with the talented CYRNAME, also trained by Paul Nicholls who was able to end the run of the awesome Altior (himself now unlikely to line up). Shall we see a challenge from the Irish trainers this year sending over anything special to take on the home team or keep them safe across the Irish Sea and leave it till Cheltenham in March. I can remember when the best of the French chasers came over but that too seems to have stopped now. There are of course plenty of supporting events including the Kauto Star (Feltham) Novices Chase won last year by La Bague Au Roi under the champion jockey Richard Johnson and the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle which was won by Verdana Blue who sprung a surprise beating stablemate Buveur D'Air who at the time was the reigning Champion Hurdler.

We will have a six race card on Thursday afternoon, plenty of quality events leading up to the King George VI itself at 3:05pm. The going is currently forecast as "Soft", there is a lot of rain expected overnight and throughout the morning itself so this might get closer to "heavy" though the weather should be fine for the time of year during the afternoon although a bit chilly so wrap up warm, maximum temperatures expected 8C.

Here are our thoughts and selections for the rest of today's NH card;
12:50  Ladbrokes 'Free Bet Today' Novices' Hurdle (Class 2) 
2m, 8 Runners
We kick off the Boxing day meeting with a decent novice hurdle, Nicky Henderson usually unleashes a decent prospect here (won this last year with Mister Fisher) and indeed runs two this afternoon with both FRED [WON 9/2] and VEGAS BLUE worth noting, the latter appears to be the main hope with two wins from two so far. Paul Nicholls also runs a pair with ECCO strongly fancied while RED FORCE ONE is co-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson and was only a neck away from winning a listed event at Ascot so market support for this one would be interesting with experience of the soft ground anticipated here today. Away from the top two trainers one to note at a big price could be the Dan Skelton horse SOUTH SEAS who was runner up on debut at Southwell against a David Pipe 'good thing' and could be better than that bare form entitled to have come on for that run. 

RESULT -- 1st :  FRED 9/2.

13:20  Ladbrokes Chase (Novices' Limited Handicap) (Class 3) 
2m 4f 110y, 12 Runners.
An interesting Novice Handicap now, a race won last year by Mick Channon (Glen Forsa) and he saddles HOLD THE NOTE today which is of interest was a good hurdler and could improve for stepping up over fences, one to keep an eye on in the handicaps throughout this season. Venetia Williams horses fare well on the soft ground and her ROLL AGAIN is an ex Willie Mullins a winner recently over 3m on soft going and could be the one to beat. At a bigger price SOLOMON GREY was obviously outclassed up against Cyrname and Altior at Ascot but could be better suited to this trip and opposition and certainly capable of running to a place here. 

RESULT -- 1st :  COMMANCHE RED 4/1.

13:55  Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices' Chase (Grade 1) (Class 1)
3m, 7 Runners
Formally known as the "Feltham Novices' Chase" this is now renamed as the Kauto Star Chase after the multiple King George and Gold Cup winner, shame to see some of the original names that I had grown up with being replaced. A small field of seven today which limits our each way interest somewhat although should still be a race to follow for the future given the quality that has come out of this event in the past including last year's winner La Bague Au Roi. Colin Tizzard looks to have a strong chance with his SLATE HOUSE [WON 3/1] who is rated highest, BLACK OP is a year older and Tom George's 8yo should find this trip within his range even on soft going. While JARVEYS PLATE has already won a small field contest this season beating on odds on shot in the process and was a listed hurdle winner at Cheltenham last season so commands respect, just wish it was eight runners for the place betting options.

RESULT -- 1st :  SLATE HOUSE 3/1.

14:30  Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle (Grade 1) (Class 1)
2m, 10 Runners
Another Grade 1 supporting event before the King George but it's another relatively small field without any real live Champion Hurdle stars. With the Irish challenge remaining at home and not a lot of depth now in the Champion Hurdle events to be fair we see Nicky Henderson saddling three in this including last years winner VERDANA BLUE, wouldn't be a surprise this time if able to repeat that win but has more competition this time around including stablemate and likely favourite FUSIL RAFFLES who is unbeaten for Henderson including an impressive course and distance success as a novice. GETAWAY TRUMP returns to hurdles after an unconvincing start over the larger obstacles, the Nicholls horse shouldn't be dismissed lightly, while support for Colin Tizzard's ELIXIR DE NUTZ would be interesting and this is my each way selection today was a talented novice and in good hands. 

RESULT -- 1st :  .

15:05  Ladbrokes King George VI Chase (Grade 1) (Class 1)
3m, 6 Runners
Today's feature event only has six entries but its still full of interest nonetheless, ASO would appear outclassed here but there is nice prize money down to sixth place so a clear round will still pick up a nice prize, last years winner CLAN DES OBEAUX commands respect attempting a repeat win, has last years runner up  THISTLECRACK [N/R] in opposition once again but this does seem a race for the younger horses to take control. 

CYRNAME is the obvious favourite and will be interesting to see if the money comes in big numbers, beat Altior last time at Ascot in what was effectively a match and will have to be at his best to see off LOSTINTRANSLATION who himself improved his reputation beating Bristol De Mai in the Betfair chase at Haydock in a battle. And that just leaves FOOTPAD over from Ireland for Willie Mullins, if he stays well then will certainly be in the mix. Should be a cracking race, for me I'm going with LOSTINTRANSLATION [NAP] to improve again, then it's the Gold Cup which should be very interesting this time around.

RESULT -- 1st :  CLAN DES OBEAUX 11/2.

15:40  Ladbrokes Football Acca Handicap Hurdle (Class 3)
2m 5f,  17 Runners
Our finale has the largest field of seventeen, we are headed by CANYON CITY with a 10lb claimer in the saddle which will help but we still overlook and favour LASKADINE a 4yo for Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty. 

For me it's wide open and preference is for two big price selections against the field, low weight helps on the soft going, so GORTROE JOE (Dan Skelton) and OSCARSMAN (Sue Smith) won a maiden hurdle but both have recent place form too and are about 20/1 as I sit here writing this.  G JOE PLACED 40/1 !! Nice result on the way out today.

RESULT -- 1st :  HONEST VIC 10/1.

Hope you enjoying your Boxing Day and still have a bit of turkey left over, wish you all the best for the end of the year for those of you disappointed that we didn't have a White Christmas here's what it would have looked like.

We'll be back with a new season on the flat in January 2020 and also at Cheltenham on New Years Day. 

HERE'S WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS 2019 ...

So that's nearly it for yet another year, I want to send out some festive wishes to everyone, have a very Merry Christmas may you enjoy a wonderful time with family, friends and loved ones. Try not to argue, say hello to your neighbours ...  then eat, drink and ... well actually that'll do it for me. Personally I'll be having a nice quiet one at home alone, treating it as another "Sunday" so having a lovely long lazy day, do some dinner after the Queen has been on and then settle down with a Bond film or something funny perhaps. Looking forward to the Gavin and Stacey special this year, makes a change from the usual Dr Who and Mrs Brown which to be honest isn't that funny for a long time.

I have bought myself a nice bottle of Highland Park Whisky, which was one Dad enjoyed, and so I shall be raising a glass to all those no longer with us, Mum, Dad, friends and family. Will have a look at the Kempton Park races for Boxing Day which includes the King George VI chase and there's a feast of football later this week, thankfully I am off till the new year so plenty of time to spare. Should try and meet up with a few people if I can. For Christmas Day itself, before the eating and drinking gets out of control will just be putting on some music and enjoying the day at home alone. Will probably also get some of my Dads model trains out for a bit of a run on a test track I have. The important thing is to just rest, try not to worry about things, and enjoy the day.

I hope you all can have a wonderful time yourselves too.
Have a very Merry Christmas   Martin Xx 

AFC WIMBLEDON v DONCASTER ROVERS LEAGUE ONE SATURDAY 14th DECEMBER 2019

This weekend the Dons will play host to Doncaster Rovers in League One, coming on the back of a disappointing draw against Bolton Wanderers last weekend (conceding a 95th min equaliser to draw 2-2) leaves the Dons in 19th place on just 17 points. Donny of course knocked us out of the FA Cup recently in a replay so a little bit of revenge is needed today, plus the three points would be very useful given the two points thrown away last week at Bolton. Top scorer Marcus Forss is back amongst the goals (has 9 from 13 games for the Dons) which is great and we continue under the captaincy of Scott Wagstaff. Off the field it's been a difficult week with a meeting of the Dons Trust members to discuss the finances of the new stadium and the consequences of being a league club with a new stadium to build more on that development as it unfolds. Ex Dons Manager Terry Brown returns for a visit and he'll always be given a great welcome for all he did in our progress through the leagues, thank you Terry!

FORM GUIDE

(Last 6 matches in league one, starting with the most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- DWLDLW
Doncaster Rovers -- DLDWWL

LAST TIME OUT

Bolton W 2  AFC Wimbledon 2 

Doncaster R 1  Franchise Scum FC 1

Updates will be published with team news and more news as and when it comes through. Our opponents Doncaster are currently 13th in the league on 24 points and will be looking to follow up their earlier FA Cup win against us. While both sides secured draws last weekend I would still expect Doncaster to start this as favourites, one of their key players is the ever green James Coppinger (38yrs) while the Rovers captain Ben Whiteman has agreed an extension to his contract, keeping him at the League One club until the summer of 2023. Going to be cold and windy, lets try and hang onto the win this time lads, Joe Pigott takes the captain's armband with Scott Wagstaff ruled out due to injury.

Starting Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 13/5 (William Hill) 

Trott (Gk),  O'Neill,  McDonald,  Thomas,  Pinnock,  Sanders,  McLoughlin,  ⚽Reilly,  Osew, ⚽Forss,  Pigott (c)

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Hartigan,  Rudoni,  Guinness-Walker,  Delaney,  Robinson,  Biler

DONCASTER ROVERS

Odds -- 11/10 (William Hill) 

Dieng (Gk),  Halliday,  🟨Daniels,  John,  James,  Whiteman,  Sheaf,  Bingham,  Coppinger (c),  🟨Sadlier,  ⚽Thomas

Subs –  Jones (Gk),  Wright,  Taylor,  Gomes,  May,  Watters,  Ennis 

Selected Bets on today's match;

Wimbledon to win and BOTH teams to score @5/1. YES!!

Marcus Forss or James Coppingger to score 1st Goal @5/1.

Penalty Awards and Scored @9/2. YES!!

Red Card in the match @11/2.

⚽H/T Score – 0 - 1  [Thomas 12']

First Half Comment;

It's Wimbledon who kick us off at Kingsmeadow but Doncaster Rovers have the first opportunity immediately with a Kieran Sadlier shot saved by Nathan Trott in the opening minute and again from the same player only a minute later. No surprise when Kwame Thomas opens the scoring for Doncaster with a header from very close range to the bottom left corner after a cross from Reece James following a corner sadly it's been coming and we are only 12 mins in. The Dons do try and come back a little as the half progresses with our sponsored player Terell Thomas has a header wide following a corner and set pieces look our best chance. The only crumb of comfort is that it's only 0-1 given the dominance and chances, that and the fact the teams below us are also useless but can we really rely on that all season to stay up? Things need to change in the second half.

⚽F/T Score – 2 - 1   [Forss (pen) 56'  Reilly 70']

Match Summary;

Wow what a turnaround in the second half, first a penalty from Marcus Forss and then Callum Reilly put us ahead on 70 minutes and suddenly we look like a team again, staying ahead of the drop zone and in touch with several other teams above us which is great. Warms you up on a cold December afternoon.

My Man of the Match – Nathan Trott (kept us in the game in the first half, it could have been all over).

Referee -- Our referee for this afternoon's big game will be Nicholas Kinseley from Essex. 🟨 🟥Averages just over three bookings a game this season and has dished out four red cards too including one to Marcus Forss in our 1-3 defeat by Bristol Rovers so will certainly have a look at that market later. His assistants will be Leigh Crowhurst along with Adrian Tranter.

Attendance – 4,311. 

Next league match:
Saturday 21st December vs Tranmere Rovers (Away)
League One Kick off 3:00pm

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2019 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #32 11th December

Now into the final month of our year long efforts here at Kempton and its been a slog I have to admit. Never mind at least we tried something as an experiment and saw it through to the end, maybe we'll just do the lay bets in 2020 as they seem to have gone fairly well. This will be our final AW meeting of the season but we will return for the Boxing Day festival that features the Christmas Hurdle, and King George Chase. We are into the second week of a month long series of Train Strikes by South Western Railway and RMT which is already annoying me with the daily commute and there's no sign of it stopping or getting any easier. While AFC Wimbledon had a disappointing result conceding a 95th minute goal to draw 2-2 against Bolton Wanderers that was a game we really should have won then on Monday we (Dons Trust members) have an important vote on our future.

Has been a very up and down year overall not just with the racing though the last month was encouraging so with the Autumn and Winter months to come we will continue to focus on the all weather horse racing now while the lights still shine brightly here at Kempton Park throughout this year. We are hopeful of better season than we experienced last year but it's just some fun and excitement to mix up the week we have found it hard and are more than a little behind to SP though it's something I will keep persevering with through to the end of the year. 

Let us move onward with this our thirty second Wednesday night of 2019, and will continue to focus on the handicap contests for each Wednesday evening meeting though we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if there is one 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. Following our last meeting the deficit is currently on -67.945 points to SP returns overall.

Throughout the year we will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of anticipated short priced favourites too. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures we have been fairly successful with our selections so far and last meeting we managed to get another favourites beat so we are now 39/53 (73.5%) we will continue with this through 2019 and onwards through next year.

This Wednesday will be meeting number thirty two for the 2019 AW season and is the Final AW meeting of 2019 for us, though we will be back for Boxing Day's King George meeting. Tonight we are expecting a bumper eight race card tonight during which we will have five handicaps (which will include the 7f 2yo nursery at 16:10). The action which will now commence earlier at 15:40 with a 6f 2yo Novice stakes, tonight's card ends around about 19:10 with our final handicap contest over a seven furlong trip.

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

Going and Weather -- The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard to slow' and the current weather forecast for this Wednesday is for a lot of cloudy weather with a crisp chill in the air so wrap up warm the best we expect the temperature to reach is around 8C by the time the meeting gets underway. brrrr

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

16:10 -- 7f Nursery Handicap (2yo).
Our opening handicap event for tonight is the 2yo nursery and has a field of nine runners declared headed by DANNY OCEAN for trainer Karl Burke. This one will be having his twelfth race and while a winner at Nottingham could be vulnerable off this high a mark and been on the go since April. Preference is for the lightly raced KOHOOF [8th 5/2] who is only having her fourth start and they have all been on the all weather at Chelmsford up to now. RUBY POWER [9th 8/1] is also fancied for the claimer Thore Hammer Hansen and owned by the King Power Racing Club who have invested in some smart horses.

17:40 -- 1m Fillies Handicap.
Just the six fillies for this mile contest, EARTH AND SKY got beat here when fav to complete an all weather hat trick and looks beatable again with the likes of ROMAN SPINNER [WON 4/1] [Rae Guest] and ILLETYOUGONOW [4th 13/2] [Mick Channon] the latter filly has good place form off this mark and with a smaller field to contend with might be able to make her charge for the line this time with the mile trip looking to suit her as she's been finishing her races well.

18:10 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
A field of eleven here headed by Richard Hughes' GLENDEVON [8th 4/1] the 4yo has been running in much higher races than this off marks in the 100s and should be interesting off only 85 in a class four handicap. FEARLESS WARRIOR [7th 11/4] won a similar looking event last time out and has been consistent prior to that win, might be good enough to follow up under a 5lb penalty with two wins and a second on the all weather to date. While the bottom weight VOI [6th 25/1] is a 5yo mare with winning form off this mark and at 25/1 is worth considering as an each way/place bet.

18:40 -- 1m 7f 218y Handicap.
The staying handicap is next, where ASTROMACHIA is likely to start favourite and won here last time out around Halloween. Probably won't have it all his own way tonight with the older horse ALL YOURS [3rd 11/4] still winning his fair share at the age of eight, over hurdles and three times here on the all weather track, while SMART CHAMPION [6th 7/1] was second in the Cesarewitch Trial at Newmarket over 2m 2f so clearly stays well and has James Doyle in the saddle.

19:10 -- 7f Handicap.
Our finale tonight over seven furlongs features 14 runners headed by BRAINS for Jamie Osborne a winner last time out and reappears under a 5lb penalty. Old favourites and course regulars UBLA [2nd 9/1] [Miss Gay Kelleway] and VIOLA PARK [5th 14/1] [Ron Harris] are also on the short list of our last all weather race of the year here with the NH Fixture to come in couple of weeks time.

Staked -- 10 points.
Returns -- 5 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. This season we are sadly down by -67.945 points to SP returns. Final month of the season to go and we will end up with an additional NH meeting here for the King George Chase on Boxing Day.

LAYS -- 39/53. Did ok with our latest series of lay bets again last week and we will try to find another one or two successful lay bets this time around and these will show up here later on tonight. Another odds on fav beat so that's the forty up for the year. 40/54.

Tonight's Lays;
16:40 -- EASTERN WORLD [1m 2yo Novice]. 
LOST 2nd 10/11F

Our thirty third meeting for this year will be the traditional Boxing Day fixture on Thursday 26th December featuring the King George Chase hope to see you then as we end 2019. Maybe we'll be back next year...