Onto today's game itself this Saturday in League One and lets have a look at our opponents today, Lincoln City are led by former Oxford United manager Michael Appleton and their recent form is good arriving on the back of a 5-1 home win against Burton Albion last weekend. Their captain Liam Bridcutt has been absent injured so will see if / when he returns to their squad, they do seem to be coping so far without him. Their forward line sees top scorer Jorge Grant on goals so far, but they are much more than a one man threat (unlike us) the Dons missed Joe Pigott in their last game but hopefully that injury wasn't too serious and he can return soon, we need his goals and assists, Ollie Palmer and Ryan Longman competing for the starting position up front if he doesn't make it today. Steve Seddon will also be missed having been recalled by his parent club Birmingham City, Steve made thirty seven appearances scoring four goals in two short spells with the Dons. Update - Lincoln City manager Michael Appleton will miss tomorrow’s game at AFC Wimbledon after testing positive for Covid-19. Goalkeeping coach Steve Croudson has also tested positive for the virus. Both are now self-isolating until further notice. The Imps captain Liam Bridcutt does return today and Wimbledon have Joe Pigott too happily the game still goes ahead.
Most Recent League Games
Oxford United 2 - 0 AFC Wimbledon
Head to Head
We've only played against Lincoln City twice before since 2002 and one of those was a 1-0 home victory in the FA Cup (2017) and a 1-1 draw last season at Kingsmeadow as the return fixture was waved off with the season ending early. Would be a good day to continue with the unbeaten head to head stats.
Starting XI's [Confirmed]
SUBS - Long (Gk), Melbourne, Jackson, Archibald, Howarth, Gotts, Elbouzedi
⚽Half Time Score - 1 - 1 [Palmer 31'] [Edun 8']
First Half Comments;
Our first game in 2021 is started by The Imps, on a cold and lonely Saturday afternoon. Doesn't take too long for the leaders to assert their presence and they take the lead on 8 minutes from a corner, Tayo Edun striking from the edge of the area, going to be a long afternoon I fear. Couple of early shots from Joe Pigott, we need to stay in this as long as possible and eventually take one of our chances (or two). It is an open first half and chances come and go for both sides but after a booking for Lincoln's Brennan Johnson it's the Dons that score next and it's Ollie Palmer getting his head on a Shane McLoughlin cross and buries a header into the top corner, game on. The rest of the opening half is still even, a booking for the Dons midfielder Alex Woodyard and chances at either end but we go in at the break all square.
⚽Full Time Score - 1 - 2 [Hopper 83']
Match Summary;
Just as I was thinking we could manage a hard fought and well earned point for Wimbledon against the league leaders [especially with a string of players absent], we concede a goal in the final seven minutes and that leaves us close to the bottom four. The need to take points off Wigan next Wednesday is now the priority. The fact that Ollie Palmer scored his first goal for us is a plus sign, the defence was fairly steady against a constant threat from a team at the top of the table so lets see if we can build on this display in 2021.
My Man of the Match - Ollie Palmer, now he has his first goal for the Dons, hopefully he'll score plenty more.
Attendance - None for now, maybe once we exit Tier 4 or sometime in 2021.
Today's Referee - Today's match referee for this weekend will be Mr Lee Swabey from Devon. An experienced referee has had a fairly quiet season this year with an average of two bookings per match and although he hasn't taken us for a league game for a while he did oversee our 1-1 draw with Oxford in the EFL Cup in September a game we eventually lost 4-3 on penalties. His assistants will be Paul Lister and Paul Yates while Michael Webb is performing duties as fourth official.
Dons next league match:
Wednesday 6th January vs Wigan Athletic (Home)
League One Kick off 6:30pm
Most Recent League Games
Oxford United 2 - 0 AFC Wimbledon
Lincoln City 5 - 1 Burton Albion
We've only played against Lincoln City twice before since 2002 and one of those was a 1-0 home victory in the FA Cup (2017) and a 1-1 draw last season at Kingsmeadow as the return fixture was waved off with the season ending early. Would be a good day to continue with the unbeaten head to head stats.
Starting XI's [Confirmed]
AFC WIMBLEDON
Win Odds - 10/3 [William Hill]Trueman (Gk), Thomas, Kalambayi, Csoka, Alexander, 🟨Woodyard, Oksanen, Rudoni, McLoughlin, ⚽Palmer, Pigott (c)
SUBS - Tzanev (Gk), Roscrow, Chislett, Robinson, Biler, Procter, Currie
LINCOLN CITY
Win Odds - 5/6 [William Hill]
Palmer (Gk), Eyoma, Montsma, Walsh, ⚽Edun, Jones, 🟨Grant, Bridcutt (c), Scully, Hopper, 🟨Johnson
Win Odds - 5/6 [William Hill]
Palmer (Gk), Eyoma, Montsma, Walsh, ⚽Edun, Jones, 🟨Grant, Bridcutt (c), Scully, Hopper, 🟨Johnson
SUBS - Long (Gk), Melbourne, Jackson, Archibald, Howarth, Gotts, Elbouzedi
Selected Bets On This Match;
- Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @9/4 YES!
- Penalty Taken @11/4
- Over 3.5 goals in match @13/5
First Half Comments;
Our first game in 2021 is started by The Imps, on a cold and lonely Saturday afternoon. Doesn't take too long for the leaders to assert their presence and they take the lead on 8 minutes from a corner, Tayo Edun striking from the edge of the area, going to be a long afternoon I fear. Couple of early shots from Joe Pigott, we need to stay in this as long as possible and eventually take one of our chances (or two). It is an open first half and chances come and go for both sides but after a booking for Lincoln's Brennan Johnson it's the Dons that score next and it's Ollie Palmer getting his head on a Shane McLoughlin cross and buries a header into the top corner, game on. The rest of the opening half is still even, a booking for the Dons midfielder Alex Woodyard and chances at either end but we go in at the break all square.
⚽Full Time Score - 1 - 2 [Hopper 83']
Match Summary;
Just as I was thinking we could manage a hard fought and well earned point for Wimbledon against the league leaders [especially with a string of players absent], we concede a goal in the final seven minutes and that leaves us close to the bottom four. The need to take points off Wigan next Wednesday is now the priority. The fact that Ollie Palmer scored his first goal for us is a plus sign, the defence was fairly steady against a constant threat from a team at the top of the table so lets see if we can build on this display in 2021.
Attendance - None for now, maybe once we exit Tier 4 or sometime in 2021.
Today's Referee - Today's match referee for this weekend will be Mr Lee Swabey from Devon. An experienced referee has had a fairly quiet season this year with an average of two bookings per match and although he hasn't taken us for a league game for a while he did oversee our 1-1 draw with Oxford in the EFL Cup in September a game we eventually lost 4-3 on penalties. His assistants will be Paul Lister and Paul Yates while Michael Webb is performing duties as fourth official.
Dons next league match:
Wednesday 6th January vs Wigan Athletic (Home)
League One Kick off 6:30pm
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