AFC Wimbledon will 'host' their latest home game back in Wimbledon against Bristol Rovers at the New Plough Lane Stadium. This time hopefully with the presence of a crowd, albeit a small one under the current Tier 2 Covid system in place. I won't be attending myself at the moment but it's good that we can start having a bit of an atmosphere again. Sadly we've been recovering from a Covid 19 outbreak in the squad, then losing league games and being dumped out of the FA Cup by Crawley. A good 2-1 win on Tuesday against Peterborough has put us back on track in the league and now it's time to continue those winning ways.
Onto the game itself on Saturday in League One and lets have a look at our opponents today, Bristol Rovers are managed by the former Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale and currently sitting in 21st place in the league on 13 points, they come to us on the back of a 0-2 home defeat against Gillingham on Tuesday night. The Dons put their FA Cup disappointment behind them with a 2-1 win that evening too which means we are in 11th place in League One on 20 points the form does point to another Dons win, lets hope so. While some sides have seen a return for a limited number of supporters in attendance it would appear that this is some months off for Dons fans. Hope to see the front pair of Ryan Longman and Joe Pigott continue up front, they came good the other night creating chances, better than the long aimless hoofs up field we started seeing with just a sole front man. Could still do with someone big to attack corners which appears to be a weak spot once again.Most Recent League Games
AFC Wimbledon 2 - 1 Peterborough United
Bristol Rovers 0 - 2 Gillingham
Head to Head
We've been playing against Bristol Rovers every season since returning to the League in 2011, our first game was a 2-3 home defeat to them and the record is generally not a great one, having only won four games, losing nine and drawing the other three. You have to factor in that games played in Bristol are usually in pouring rain and terrible winds it did take us six seasons to win at their place and about time they got a decent stadium too.
Starting XI's [Confirmed]
Win Odds - 9/4 [William Hill]
Jaakkola (Gk), Kilgour, Ehmer (c), Baldwin, Leahy, Grant, Westbrooke, Upson, Oztumer, ⚽⚽Hanlan, ⚽⚽Nicholson
Jaakkola (Gk), Kilgour, Ehmer (c), Baldwin, Leahy, Grant, Westbrooke, Upson, Oztumer, ⚽⚽Hanlan, ⚽⚽Nicholson
SUBS - van Stappershoef (Gk), Hargreaves, Hare, Harries, Walker, Barrett, Koiki
AFC WIMBLEDON
Win Odds - 5/4 [William Hill]Trueman (Gk), 🟨Nightingale (c), ⚽Heneghan, Csoka, Alexander, Woodyard, Hartigan, Rudoni, 🟨Guinness-Walker, Longman, ⚽Pigott
SUBS - Tzanev (Gk), Thomas, McLoughlin, Palmer, Chislett, Reilly, Seddon
Selected Bets On This Match;
- Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @9/4 YES !!
- Joe Pigott to score first @9/2 YES !!
- AFC Wimbledon to win 1st half @2/1.
[Pigott 5' pen, Heneghan 30'] [Nicholson 14', Hanlan 25' 45']
First Half Comments;
Wimbledon kick us off here at plough lane against Bristol Rovers and the action is swift as the Dons win a penalty in the 4th minute, which is superbly despatched by Joe Pigott for an early lead. A good start after a busy twelve days and lets try to step it up a bit now, Will Nightingale picks up a booking early on too and then the equaliser came before the quarter hour mark for Rovers via Sam Nicholson. Typically the Dons struggle against the sides beneath us and it's therefore no surprise to me that Rovers take the lead on 25 mins via a Brandon Hanlan header the Dons defence appear to be sleeping. Lets hope for a stronger performance now, the goals keep coming though and Ben Heneghan our latest defensive signing scores another goal for the Dons, a header from a free kick maybe he can develop into our set piece threat, we need one but it's 2-2 and it's only thirty mins gone. One more goal before half time, the visitors retake the lead again with Hanlan's second goal and overall are having the best of the possession, more attempts and corners, things need to improve in the second half for the Dons.
First Half Comments;
Wimbledon kick us off here at plough lane against Bristol Rovers and the action is swift as the Dons win a penalty in the 4th minute, which is superbly despatched by Joe Pigott for an early lead. A good start after a busy twelve days and lets try to step it up a bit now, Will Nightingale picks up a booking early on too and then the equaliser came before the quarter hour mark for Rovers via Sam Nicholson. Typically the Dons struggle against the sides beneath us and it's therefore no surprise to me that Rovers take the lead on 25 mins via a Brandon Hanlan header the Dons defence appear to be sleeping. Lets hope for a stronger performance now, the goals keep coming though and Ben Heneghan our latest defensive signing scores another goal for the Dons, a header from a free kick maybe he can develop into our set piece threat, we need one but it's 2-2 and it's only thirty mins gone. One more goal before half time, the visitors retake the lead again with Hanlan's second goal and overall are having the best of the possession, more attempts and corners, things need to improve in the second half for the Dons.
⚽Full Time Score - 2 - 4 [Nicholson 64']
Match Summary;
.
Attendance - None for now, maybe soon.
Today's Referee - Today's match referee will be Benjamin Speedie from Merseyside, a young referee who was taking charge of National League games last season and now promoted to League One / Two games not surprisingly therefore this is his first game officiating us. Will have assistance from Stephen Finch and Anthony Da Costa on the touchlines and our fourth official is Craig Hicks.
Dons next league match:
Saturday 12th December 2020 vs Charlton Athletic (Away)
League One Kick off 3:00pm
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