AFC WIMBLEDON v ACCRINGTON STANLEY LEAGUE ONE SATURDAY 17th AUGUST 2019

Our second home game of the season and sadly we still looking for our first points of the season, hopefully they can come when we play the mighty Accrington Stanley this weekend. Having lost our first two league games 2-1 each time it's still small margins and with a lot of new young players to blend in at least we not getting thumped yet. Could do with some experience and miss a true leader, also having to rely on a youngster in goal without any league experience this could be a long season for us. Our opponents Accrington Stanley have only had the one league game so far losing 2-0 to promoted Lincoln City, their game last week would have been against Bury but we know about their problems and by the time this match begins we might know their fate for the season (they still fighting but still not played a game in league or league cup). We failed in the opening round of the League Cup ourselves and the least said about that the better so let's focus on the league now please and our cup runs are reserved for the FA Cup.

FORM GUIDE 
(Last 6 matches from last season in their respective leagues, starting with most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- LLDWDD
Accrington Stanley -- LDWWLW

LAST TIME OUT
Fleetwood Town 2 -- 1 AFC Wimbledon
Lincoln City 2 -- 0 Accrington Stanley

Updates will be published with team news and more as and when it comes through. Not sure if Will Nightingale will be fit for this so it's likely that the captain's armband will be picked up by Joe Pigott which hopefully will not stop him from scoring the goals, though plenty required from elsewhere so will see if any of the new youngsters such as Nesta Guinness-Walker can shine. With our "new" goalkeeper Nathan Trott also on the injured list before being able to shine for the Dons we will be relying on Nik Tzanev between the sticks for the time being. A relatively young side, could do with some experience but will trust in the management team that saved us last term. If there are further news nearer kick off we will update here. Early odds show Wimbledon as short as 5/4 which I find odd, so suggest you take the 2/1 about the opposition today.

Last year we had to shift our shirt sponsorship to the Assistant manager Glyn Hodges but this year we have a player to follow and are sponsoring the home shirt of defender Terell Thomas (pictured left). Good luck Terell and hopefully we'll see you pop up for a vital goal or two this season. 

And PLEASE can we give someone else the Penalty duties for the season, sorry Joe but we cannot keep going on missing these opportunities and I would rather see a defender belt one like Stuart Pearce used too than see a player walk up, stop, do a jig and then miss it ! 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 5/4 (William Hill) 

Trott (GK),  Thomas,  Kalambayi,  McDonald,  ⚽ O'Neill,   Wagstaff,  Hartigan,  Reilly,  Guinness-Walker,  Folivi,  Pigott (c)

Subs – Tzanev (GK),  Appiah,  Roscrow,  Pinnock,  Connolly,  McLoughlin,  Osew

ACCRINGTON STANLEY

Odds --  2/1 (William Hill) 

Evtimov  (GK),  Johnson,  Sykes,   Hughes,    Francis-Angol,  Clark,  Conneely (c),  Finley,  McConville,  Baker-Richardson, ⚽ Bishop

Subs – Bursik (Gk),  Edwards,  Sherif,  Pritchard,  Maguire,  Neves Bento De Carvalho,  Charles

  

  

⚽H/T Score – 1 - 0 [42' O'Neill]

First Half Comment;

The Dons kick off today and are quickly attacking winning a few corners, a shot from Callum Reilly is saved and hopefully we will be causing plenty of trouble towards the Stanley goal if the opening few minutes are anything to go by. Seven corners in the opening twelve minutes wish we had a Keith Curle / Marcus Gayle type so we could try and profit from some of these but it's still goalless as we reach the quarter past three mark. Trott makes a good save from Colby Bishop (Accrington Stanley) as his header towards the top right corner is kept out. Stanley have been very lively and their best chances are falling to Courtney Baker-Richardson. And then the breakthrough comes late in the first half as AFC Wimbledon take the lead through ⚽Luke O'Neill (or possibly an own goal) [AFC Wimbledon 1, Accrington Stanley 0] with just a few minutes to go before the half time whistle.

⚽F/T Score – 1 - 1  [42' O'Neill],  [64' Bishop]

Match Summary;
A flurry of bookings and the dismissal of Accrington's Zaine Francis-Angol yet the visitors manage to equalise on 64 minutes via a Colby Bishop header. Despite being a man down the visitors still showed plenty and also able to keep the Dons at bay a disappointing draw when we had the lead and also we not looking to score more than one in a game and very light up front. 

My Man of the Match – Callum Reilly.

Referee -- Our referee for this important League One fixture will be John Busby from Oxford, he was in charge for a couple of our games last season the 2-1 defeat by Sunderland and the 2-1 win against Wycombe. Keeps his cards in his pocket usually with an average of under 2.5 cards per game, should be in reasonably safe hands today. 

Attendance – 3,979.  

Next match:
Tuesday 20th August vs Ipswich Town (Away)
League One 7:45pm