2021-22 NFL SEASON DIVISIONAL (NFC / AFC) CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 
Sunday 30th January 20:05

Cincinnati Bengals 27 @ 24 Kansas City Chiefs  [H/T 10 - 21]
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

We are now down to the final four teams for this year's NFL Championship. The two conference winners from this weekend will battle it out for Superbowl LVI in two weeks time and this year it's the AFC Conference that steps up first. After an exciting play off weekend where all four games were decided at the death we see the Kansas City Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs having beaten the Bills in a thrilling overtime win 42-36 will be seeking to reach their third consecutive Superbowl (won one, lost one) and it's their offensive unit led by QB Patrick Mahomes that has brought them this far for experienced head coach Andy Reid. The Bengals were the #4 seeds coming into this season's play off games and saw off the #1 seeded side Tennessee Titans with a final kick field goal in a 19-16 win, it's another tough game tonight but they will arrive on a high and could well be another nail biter with Joe Burrow leading the attack and a young head coach Zac Taylor calling the plays.

Selected bets;

Half time over 27 points @20/21.
Total points in match over 54 @10/11.

Kansas City to win handicap -7pts @5/6

Patrick Mahomes - Total passing touchdowns over 2+ @5/4.

Wow how did they throw that away, losing an 18pt lead to be denied in overtime. 

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 
Sunday 30th January 23:30

San Francisco 49ers 17 @ 20 Los Angeles Rams  [H/T 10 - 7]
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

The second of this season's Championship game features the NFC match up with San Francisco heading over to Los Angeles, this game takes place at the host stadium for the Superbowl LVI itself, so the Rams could be seen to have advantage and with their talented squad in great form the likely favourites. Last year Tampa Bay became the first team to play in a Super Bowl in their own stadium. This year the Los Angeles Rams can emulate that feat with the NFL showpiece being staged at SoFi Stadium.  Sean McVay's men also have home advantage for the NFC Championship game as San Francisco knocked out Green Bay last week, but the 49ers have won their last six games with the Rams, including the final game of the regular season. The 49ers' defence restricted the Packers to just 10 points while their offence leans heavily on their run game, via Elijah Mitchell and dual-threat receiver Deebo Samuel.  And although he's thrown six interceptions and just two touchdowns in the last four games, the much-maligned quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has managed to marshal Kyle Shanahan's side back to the brink of the big game.

Both sides booked their places with final plays to beat Green Bay and Tampa Bay respectively. Defence were on top in the 49ers game and the wintry conditions surely played a part too, while the Rams almost capitulated against the Buccaneers having a 27-3 lead in the 3rd quarter though they never fell behind it was close and looked to be heading to overtime. It was down to Matt Stafford to find Cooper Kupp in the final few seconds and the winning field goal from 30y by Matt Gay made up for an earlier miss to send the Rams through.

Selected bets;

Half time over 23 points.
Total points in match over 46.

Total Match Touchdowns 7+ or more @23/10.

We shall update the final scores later over the weekend and then look forward to Superbowl LVI itself in a couple of weeks time, that will be LIVE on BBC TV here in the UK which is great for us fans.

AFC WIMBLEDON vs SHREWSBURY TOWN - LEAGUE ONE HOME FIXTURE 2021/22 SEASON [29th JANUARY]

Saturday 29th January 2022  KO 3pm
AFC Wimbledon will host their latest League One game at Plough Lane for the 2021-22 season against Shrewsbury Town. With both sides in the bottom half of the table it's an important game for survival after the recent run of form and lack of firepower up front, we will certainly need to find a plan B for the latter part of the season. We haven't made a great start to 2022 so far and are currently in 20th position in the League One table on 28 points after 26 games played. 

Speaking after the midweek 0-2 defeat by Ipswich Town, Mark Robinson was in reflective mood;  “I thought Ethan (Chislett) did really well, I felt Aaron (Cosgrave) worked really hard and I only took him off because he had put a shift in. “We wanted to try and carry a threat, but we didn’t want to lose width. It worked in spells and then didn’t but then in the second half the lads wanted to keep their shape and in the second half it did work. We only flipped back to the 4-2-3-1 once the first goal happened. I felt Macca and Marshy did well in there and there wasn’t any area of the pitch in which they dominated us". 

Team News - will update as and when news is available, still hoping we can find a replacement for the recently departed Ollie Palmer, even if it's a loan deal. Friday afternoon the Dons signed experienced left-back Lee Brown from Portsmouth. The 31-year-old has joined us on a permanent basis after leaving Pompey and our Head Coach Mark Robinson believes it’s a real transfer coup, completed just days before the end of the January deadline. “I’m really pleased,” said Robbo. “I think Lee is going to be an important signing for us. After we lost Ollie, the recruitment panel asked if we needed a bit of experience for the squad."

Recent League One Results (Tuesday)
AFC Wimbledon 0 - 2 Ipswich Town
Gillingham 0 - 0 Shrewsbury Town

Looking at today's game itself this Saturday afternoon in League One and our opponents today; Shrewsbury are currently managed by Steve Cotterill, a former Wimbledon FC player has plenty of management experience at the likes of Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Birmingham and has been in situ since November 2020. They are currently in 17th place in the League one table on 31 points, so are only three points above the Dons having played two more games, this is a big winning opportunity for the Dons as we need to begin climbing the table again after the disappointment a midweek defeat at home against Ipswich. 

Men to watch for the opposition; Top scorer so far this season is Daniel Udoh who has ten goals this far, he also leads their assist list with six. Makes a formidable partnership with Ryan Bowman who himself has nine goals. 

Head to Head

Our head to head form against Shrewsbury Town since our return to the league as AFC Wimbledon amounts to a fairly dismal record for us. Our of a total of fourteen games played there is only a single win for the Dons, and that 3-1 win was back in 2012 ! There have been seven wins for Shrewsbury and the remaining six matches have been draws so now is a good time to secure that second win.

Starting XI's [Confirmed]

AFC WIMBLEDON 

Win Odds - 7/5 [William Hill]

Tzanev (Gk),  Brown,  🟨Heneghan(c),  Nightingale,  Osew,  Chislett,  Marsh, ⚽🟨Assal,  McCormick,  🟨Rudoni,  Ablade

SUBS - Oualah (Gk),  Csóka,  Alexander,  Hartigan,  Awokoya-Mebude,  Cosgrave,  Kalinauskas

SHREWSBURY TOWN
Win Odds - 9/5 [William Hill]
Marosi (Gk),  Pennington,  Ebanks-Landell(c),  Nurse,  🟨Bennett,  🟨Vela,  Davis,  Fornah,  Ogbeta,  Bowman,  ⚽Udoh

SUBS - Burgoyne (Gk),  Pierre,  Cosgrove,  Pyke,  Bloxham,  Daniels,  Janneh

Selected Bets On This Match;

• Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @5/2.
• Ben Heneghan to score at any time @9/1
• Penalty to be awarded and scored @9/2.
• Bookings over 45 points @12/5.

⚽Half Time Score - 1 - 0  [Assal 13']

First Half Comments;

Kick Off 3pm today at the Cherry Red Records, Plough Lane Wimbledon stadium. It's Wimbledon that get us underway here this afternoon but early doors Daniel Udoh has the first effort though it's high and wide for the visitors but they've really started with a bang early doors and we doing well to weather that storm on a windy day in South West London. Then the breakthrough and it's the Dons who take the lead on 13 mins when Ayoub Assal connects with a head from an Ethan Chislett cross to score. Just the start we needed, it's a full house here and the away fans are also making a decent noise. Jack Rudoni picks up the first booking of the game, as we seem to have seen off the opening onslaught from the Shrews, into the second part of the first half, still 1-0 up, we could go above our opponents today with another goal (just saying). Shrewsbury come back at us towards the end of the first half, and we still holding them off, a few more chances come and go but no further breakthrough just a booking for the goal scorer Assal for what the referee believes is a 'dive' as the whistle goes for half time.

⚽Full Time Score - 1 - 1  [Udoh 58']

Match Summary;

A one all draw, feels like a chance missed there but at least we didn't lose, seemed to be quite strong at the back for the most part and impressed by the addition of Lee Brown who continued to bark instructions and dominate the back line, something we really needed, leadership ! Hopefully we can still find a solution up front soon, Assal always looks dangerous but another booking today. Onwards to another game on Tuesday night here against Cheltenham. 

My Man of the Match - Lee Brown.

Attendance - 7,824.

Today's Referee - Our match referee for this afternoon will be Mr Carl Boyeson from East Yorkshire. Mr Boyeson is one of the EFL's longest serving officials, with him now in his 20th campaign.  He first took the referee course at the age of 22, passing the exam in May 1993, starting his officiating journey by refereeing on the Hull Sunday League. He's now racked up around 600 EFL games in total, in addition to serving for six years as an assistant referee in the Premier League and EFL.

Shall have assistance from Matthew Lee and Andy Bennett on the touchlines while Dean Treleaven will be in control of the fourth official duties.

Next league one fixture;
  vs Cheltenham Town (Home)
  Tuesday 1st February @7:45pm.

KEMPTON PARK FLOODLIT HORSE RACING 2022 - MEETING #3 WEDNESDAY 26th JANUARY

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse as we begin 2022 with a fresh season of Wednesday evening meetings on the all weather flat track under the lights. We had a decent 2021 here on these Wednesday nights with a profit for the year to SP and shall aim for further success in 2022. My side AFC Wimbledon continue with their fight against relegation with an away trip to face Burton Albion on the weekend where they came away with another point in a 1-1 draw and will hope for more with a home fixture on Tuesday evening when Ipswich Town came to visit and beat us 2-0. While over the pond the NFL play offs continue, with the Superbowl LVI fast approaching.

Returning to the horse racing all results here are reported to 1pt at Starting Prices (SP) we will be keeping a rolling record of profit/loss all the way through from January till the Boxing Day 'King George' fixture in December. Last season saw an overall profit for the year to the tune of +25.465 points to SP. We will continue to keep a record to SP throughout the season again first two meetings were successful which means a +10.7 points profit to take through to week three.

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 had been fairly successful with our selections throughout last year managed to get plenty of favourites beat so we finished on 38/52 (73.07%). We shall reset everything for the new year so that 2022 will begin afresh as it should be. Started well enough in week one with both lays beaten into second, but the second meeting only one beat, the other favourite wins, so we are 3/4 (75%) and hopefully we will have another successful season from January - December.

Tonight's meeting will be our 3rd Wednesday evening twilight fixture this year. This meeting will now begin earlier than expected with a seven race card to enjoy, we will now have the final five handicaps on the card tonight. We will begin late in the afternoon with our opening race which will now commence at 16:30 with seven furlong classified stakes, then we should end the card around about 19:35 with the final handicap contest a stayers event over just under two miles.

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 somewhat cloudy afternoon, but dry into the early evening while the temperature is not likely to get much higher than around 7C tonight.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

17:30  Try Our New Price Boosts At Unibet Fillies' Handicap
7f  [Class 5  9 runners]

Our first handicap on the card is for fillies only and we've a field of nine declared headed by Sky Blue Thinking who won four in a row last season and has peeked in the handicap now as a result, even with George Rooke's 3lb claim looks up against it here. Khatwah [Won @15/8f] has a 5lb penalty for her Wolves win two weeks ago but with jockey Frederick Larson claiming 7lb actually should score again tonight. Far From A Ruby [8th @13/2] looks interesting tonight, won the last time she visited this track and scored again at Wolves and her jockey Laura Pearson claims 3lb I think has a decent chance of another win.

Winner - (2) Khatwah @15/8f  [Frederick Larson].

18:00  Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Handicap

1m  [Class 5  12 runners]

Running over a mile now, a dozen runners at the declaration stage, headed by the consistent Stopnsearch though usually seen at Lingfield (all bar four runs there in total) so will oppose here. Instead will chance the pair of Kings Castle [10th @40/1] trained by Joseph Tuite and a rare all weather run but could be worth risking that while Last Mission [Won @7/2] (H J Evans) although yet to win has not had a lot of racing and gets in here with a low weight and good jockey in Dougie Costello.

Winner - (11) Last Mission @7/2  [D Costello].

18:30  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap

1m 2f 219y  [Class 4  4 runners]

Small field of five declared for this event, now reduced to four runners with the withdrawal of Charlie Arthur this morning. Morlaix seems likely to be well supported and his recent wins have come at Chelmsford, so preference is for Prince of Harts [Won @9/2] who has been fairly consistent on his turf runs along with Minister for Magic the filly has only raced twice so far and this could be a good opportunity for her to score having won a maiden in Ireland at 50/1 and soon moved yards to Harry Dunlop. The line up is completed by Kasperenko who ran poorly at Southwell last time out but dropped in class and might bounce back quickly, though overlooked by us today.

Winner - (2) Prince of Harts @9/2  [R Coakley].

19:00  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Fillies' Handicap

6f  [Class 5  9 runners]

Another former Irish trained runner here Notoriously Risky [5th @15/2] doesn't have an inspiring name does she but did win off higher rating at Chelmsford in December and with her jockey's 7lb claim looks well treated for this fillies event. The lightly raced 4yo Exuding [2nd @15/2] can go well at a decent price dropped in grade again and maybe keep an eye on Porterinthejungle for whenever she returns to her favoured Brighton racecourse.

Winner - (5) The Blue Bower @9/1  [Rob Hornby].

19:35  Every Race Live On Racing TV Handicap

1m 7f 218y  [Class 6  10 runners]

A stayers event to conclude tonight with and a field of ten at the declaration stage, while recent winners Frame Rate and Cinzento will certainly have plenty of support I am going to side with the pair of Pentimento [9th @13/2] (David Probert) along with The Worthy Brat [8th @9/2] (K Shoemark) as our pick against the field and both should be available at 10/1+. Noted that this race was won by a 66/1 shot last year, and therefore a shock result is not out of the question.
Winner - (4) Tulane @10/1  [Jonny Peate].

Staked - 10 points.       Returns - 12.875 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. All results are accurate and recorded to SP returns to a 1pt win stake only and updated each meeting. A winning start to 2022, now up +10.7 points to SP returns coming into week three. A few winners tonight with a small but useful profit to SP and means we will now carry over +13.575 points profit to our next meeting.

Lays - 3/4 let the 100% start slip with a winning favourite last time, but still managed to get another beat and will see how we fare this time. Looking for another good season with the lays, aiming at favourites and not afraid to take on short odds on shots too. Success tonight so we are 4/5 for the season.

The plan will be for at least one or two each meeting and we will keep those results separate from the handicaps.

Tonight's Lay(s);

17:00 - Montesecco  [7f 3yo Maiden Stakes]. LOST 5th@11/4

We will have more midweek floodlit meetings in 2022, our fourth meeting will be held here on Wednesday 2nd February 2022. Keep well.

AFC WIMBLEDON vs IPSWICH TOWN - LEAGUE ONE HOME FIXTURE 2021/22 SEASON [25th JANUARY]

Tuesday 25th January 2022  KO 7:45pm
AFC Wimbledon will host their latest League One game at Plough Lane for the 2021-22 season against Ipswich Town, With the Dons still in the bottom five of the League One table it's an important game for survival after recent back to back goal less draws. Seem to be in for another season of struggle in 2022 so far and are currently in 19th position in the League One table on 28 points after 25 games played. Played away at Burton Albion on the weekend and took the lead through Ollie Palmer but had to settle for a 1-1 draw, moved us up one place. 

Team News - Will Nightingale and Ben Heneghan came back into contention for the trip to Burton, while player / coach Darius Charles is looking forward to helping Paul Kalambayi – another member of the “centre-half family” as he calls it – return to full fitness. Head Coach Mark Robinson is confident that we can start scoring goals again having gone five games without one before the Burton game. UPDATE - Striker Ollie Palmer has left the Dons and signed for Wrexham in a reported £300k deal. 

Recent League One Results
Burton Albion 1 - 1 AFC Wimbledon
Ipswich Town 2 - 1 Accrington Stanley

Looking at today's game itself this Saturday day in League One and our opponents today; Ipswich Town are currently managed by Kieran McKenna a Northern Ireland and Tottenham youth player and having had to end his career early went into coaching which included a period as Assistant at Manchester United during the tenure of Jose Mourinho. 

They find themselves in 9th position in the league table, with 38 points after 27 games played, losing 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers before hosting Accrington Stanley over the weekend winning 2-1. Men to watch for the opposition; Macauley Bonne on loan from Championship club Queens Park Rangers, and also a member of the Zimbabwe National Team. Has 12 goals so far this season and likely to go back to his parent club as a decent prospect. Also there is ex Dons striker Joe Pigott will probably be on the bench and doesn't seem to be getting the game time he would have expected. 

Head to Head

Our head to head form against Ipswich Town since our return to the league as AFC Wimbledon amounts to just five matches all in the past couple of seasons. One win apiece and three draws makes it a very even contest, be nice if we can repeat our 3-0 victory from April which was behind closed doors. I would take a scrappy 1-0 right now though.

Starting XI's [Confirmed]

AFC WIMBLEDON 

Win Odds - 17/10 [William Hill]

Tzanev (Gk),  Osew,  Heneghan (c),  Csoka,  Guinness-Walker,  Chislett,  Marsh,  Assal,  🟨McCormick,  Rudoni,  Cosgrove

SUBS - Oualah (Gk),  Nightingale,  Alexander,  Hartigan,  Awokoya-Mebude,  Ablade,  Kalinauskas

IPSWICH TOWN
Win Odds - 29/20 [William Hill]
Walton (Gk),  Donacien,  Woolfenden,  🟨Edmundson (c),  ⚽x2 Burns,  Bakinson,  Carroll,  🟥Vincent-Young,  Aluko,  Norwood,  Jackson

SUBS - Holy (Gk),  Pigott,  Chaplin,  Bonne,  Burgess,  Edwards,  Celina

Selected Bets On This Match;

• Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @9/4.
• Ayoub Assal to score at any time @4/1
• Penalty to be awarded and scored @9/2.
• Bookings under 45 points @12/5.

⚽Half Time Score - 0 - 0

First Half Comments;

Kick Off 7:45pm today at the Cherry Red Records, Plough Lane Wimbledon stadium. Be interesting to see who is playing up front tonight with Ollie Palmer's departure, appears to be Aaron Cosgrove with Assal and Rudoni in behind. Ipswich get the game underway now. First quarter of an hour is fairly uneventful with a few off target efforts, hope we can get into it more as the game progresses. A flurry of corners for the visitors but our defence holds firm, be nice if we can get something happening into the second period of this opening half. Sadly nothing much happens and we go into the break all square.

⚽Full Time Score - 0 - 2  [Burns 61' 86']

Match Summary;

A two nil defeat with a brace from Ipswich Town's Wes Burns in the second half leaves the Dons one place above the drop zone. The late sending off for Kane Vincent-Young didn't really affect the outcome. We clearly continue to lack any offensive threat, I am unsure how we will change this in the short term as only one goal scored in the last seven games is a poor return. 

My Man of the Match - Wes Burns.

Attendance - 8,117.

Today's Referee - Our match referee for this afternoon will be Mr Lee Swabey who hails from Devon, a very experienced referee at this level for over ten seasons we should be in safe hands tonight. averages only couple of cards per game and only one red in the last couple of seasons. His assistants tonight will be Paul Lister and Mark Stevens while on fourth official duties is Declan O'Shea.

Next league one fixture;
  vs Shrewsbury Town (Home)
  Saturday 29th January @3pm.

2022 NFL DIVISIONAL PLAY OFF WEEKEND 22nd / 23rd JANUARY 2022

 

The wild card games are done and we now have the Divisional Playoffs as we begin to edge closer to the end of the post season and Superbowl LVI. We are down to the final eight teams who will contest the Divisional Playoff games this weekend and put themselves into the Championship games for the right to play in the finale at the SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, on February 13th. We can anticipate some cracking NFL games this weekend, who can win to keep their season alive and who will be watching Superbowl LVI from the comfort of their sofa with a cold beer along with me?

Just who has reached this stage of the playoffs (seeds in brackets);

AFC

Tennessee Titans [#1]
Kansas City Chiefs [#2]

Buffalo Bills [#3]

Cincinnati Bengals [#4]

NFC

Green Bay Packers [#1]

Tampa Bay Buccaneers [#2]

LA Rams [#4]

San Francisco 49ers [#6]

The opening game on Saturday night is in the NFC where No1 Seeds Green Bay Packers [13-4] will host 6th Seed San Francisco 49ers [10-7] at their Lambeau Field stadium, Quarterback Aaron Rogers is many people's idea of MVP once again this season and we could end up with a mammoth clash if he can lead Green Bay towards Superbowl LVI should the No1 Seeds prevail (we hope). The other NFC tie sees LA Rams head to the reigning champions Tampa Bay.

Sunday morning (UK times) sees the first of the AFC games where the Tennessee Titans received a playoff 'bye' week having secured the No1 seed, held on to win their final game against Houston Texans for the 28-25 win to maintain its hold on the No. 1 spot in the AFC. Now, the Titans having rested should also see the return of Derrick Henry to look forward to after the first-round bye and will play the Cincinnati Bengals. Elsewhere in the AFC matches we have another exciting match up where Buffalo Bills travel to Kansas City Chiefs in the final game this weekend.

Saturday 22nd January 2022
AFC DIVISIONAL PLAY-OFF
Cincinnati Bengals  19 @ 16  Tennessee Titans [H/T 9 - 6]
21:30  Venue: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee.
Our first play off game will see Cincinnati head to face Tennessee the #1 seed in the AFC. The Bengals have come on plenty this season to secure the AFC North for head coach Zac Taylor and Quarterback Joe Burrow but have it all to do against the top seed in their own stadium especially with the likely return of Julio Jones, AJ Brown and their missing diamond running back Derrick Henry for head coach Mike Vrabel. A game where the defence held and caused the first 'shock' result in the playoffs, Bengals win with a late field goal and head into the AFC Championship game. Wow

Sunday 23rd January 2021
NFC DIVISIONAL PLAY-OFF
San Francisco 49ers  13 @ 10  Green Bay Packers [H/T 0 - 7]
01:15  Venue: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
While San Francisco did well to hold off an erratic Dallas side on the weekend they now face a far bigger challenge with a visit to Green Bay who are the #1 seed in the NFC. Should be a win for the packers at home, having enjoyed a week off to rest and recover, Aaron Rodgers can send them closer to another Superbowl. Not so, another 'shock' and defence on top again, as the 49ers progress.

NFC DIVISIONAL PLAY-OFF
LA Rams  30 @ 27  Tampa Bay Buccaneers [H/T 20 - 3]
20:00  Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida.
The Rams booked their place in this weekends matches with a thumping 34-11 win over Arizona. The Rams have a talented roster with the likes of Cooper Kupp, Odell Beckham Jr now on top of their game and will surely create a lot of problems even for the Goat Tom Brady and his Buccaneers, high quality action on both sides, can't wait. I think it will be very tight, only three points in it coming down to the final quarter. Let's see...we it hasn't been close so far, it's been an unusual play off campaign this year ... and yet Tampa have a last gasp TD to make it interesting with couple of mins to play. And as we thought it was about to enter overtime, with under a min to play and no time outs, Matt Stafford connects with Cooper Kupp twice and a field goal wins it. WOW

AFC DIVISIONAL PLAY-OFF
Buffalo Bills  36 @ 42  Kansas City Chiefs [H/T 14 - 14]
23:30  Venue: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas, Missouri.

Possibly the most interesting clash of the play off round here with the 2nd/3rd seeds facing off, Josh Allen vs Patrick Mahomes and plenty more match ups. Both put up impressive numbers in their opening play off wild card games, Bills saw off New England 17-47 a level of defeat that the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick rarely tastes and the Chiefs themselves ended the career of big Ben Roethlisberger with a 21-42 win to set up this mouth watering clash.

[Times shown are GMT]

Will update with the final scores later over the weekend and then look forward to the AFC and NFC Championship Games next Sunday 30th January. Then of course begin to look at the Superbowl LVI itself which will be on Sunday 13th February in Los Angeles and broadcast live on BBC TV in UK.

AFC WIMBLEDON vs PORTSMOUTH - LEAGUE ONE HOME FIXTURE 2021/22 SEASON [18th JANUARY]

Tuesday 18th January 2022  KO 7:45pm

AFC Wimbledon will host their rearranged League One game against Portsmouth, the tie was cancelled before Christmas due to a spate of Covid in the Pompey camp and is one of the few additional games in hand we have on most of the opposition above us.

After last weekends 0-0 draw with Morecambe we are currently in 20th position in the League One table on 26 points. That draw against Morecambe on Saturday at least stopped the run of defeats and we did have a better effort going forwards while a clean sheet was also essential, not sure we will have as much success against a Portsmouth side that looks to get back to winning ways after a defeat on Saturday themselves. 

Speaking after the 0-0 draw on Saturday vs Morecambe Mark Robinson was very encouraged by Wimbledon's performance "I honestly felt it was another step in the right direction," said Robbo. "Against MK with 10 men the intensity was there and the intensity was good today. We just said that we have to be relentless in everything we do and I felt that for a 30-minute spell in the second-half it was us and what we are about. We were getting at them continuously when the ball was coming out, we were filling up the pitch, and going again. It was just decision-making and the final ball that was lacking. If we keep going like that we will be more than fine".
Latest Team News - Nesta Guinness-Walker returns to our squad for tonight’s League One clash with Portsmouth, but Head Coach Mark Robinson will have to make do without fellow defenders Ben Heneghan and Henry Lawrence.

While Nesta Guinness-Walker has completed a one-match suspension after his sending off last week, the team will still have to make do without defender Paul Kalambayi, midfielder Anthony Hartigan and striker Aaron Pressley.

Recent League One Results
AFC Wimbledon  0 - 0 Morecambe
Portsmouth  1 - 2 Franchise FC

Onto today's game itself this Tuesday evening in League One and our opponents today, Portsmouth are currently managed by Danny Cowley who took over from Kenny Jacket in March 2021. After their opening 24 fixtures they sit in 9th place on 37 points. One of the many 'big' name clubs that find themselves in the third tier of football, should have got out of this before now but such is life, they certainly have begun this season well and ought to be a strong play off challenger at least. They were up until the weekend on an unbeaten run of eight games (although lost in the FA Cup vs Harrogate) but then played 'them' and lost 1-2 at home, so might be a wounded beast and unlikely to be a pushover here even on a cold miserable January midweek game. Up front they have Marcus Harness who scored his 10th league goal of the season in the 2-0 home victory over lowly Morecambe. While John Marquis has recently left for Lincoln City.

Head to Head

Our head to head form against Portsmouth since our return to the league as AFC Wimbledon amounts to seventeen matches, we've only managed six wins in that time our first ever encounter was a thumping 4-0 win for the Dons back in 2013, one draw and Pompey have an impressive ten victories. The latest match ended in a 2-1 win for Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Starting XI's [Confirmed]

AFC WIMBLEDON 

Win Odds - 9/5 [William Hill]

Tzanev (Gk),  Alexander,  Nightingale,  Csóka,  Osew,  🟨Woodyard (c),  Marsh,  Rudoni,  🟨McCormick,  Awokoya-Mebude,  Palmer

SUBS - Oualah (Gk),  Assal,  Chislett,  Ablade,  Guinness-Walker,  Kaja,  Cosgrave

PORTSMOUTH
Win Odds - 29/20 [William Hill]
Bazunu (Gk),  Carter,  Raggett (c),  Ogilvie,  🟨Romeo,  Morrell,  Thompson,  Brown,  🟨Harness,  Walker,  Hirst

SUBS - Bass (Gk),  Robertson,  Williams,  Tunnicliffe,  Curtis,  Freeman,  Jacobs

Selected Bets On This Match;

• Over 1.5 goals in 1st half @9/4.
• Ayoub Assal to score at any time @3/1
• Penalty to be awarded and scored @7/2.
• Bookings over 45 points @11/5.

⚽Half Time Score - 0 - 0

First Half Comments;

We will update things during Tuesday evening, with the game due to kick off at 7:45pm. Wimbledon get us underway, winning an immediate corner and having the first shot on target for a change, hopefully that is a statement of intent. Couple of bookings this half, maybe the Pompey striker Harness will need to be careful in future with his challenges. If the Dons started the half well then the visitors are certainly finishing things better.

⚽Full Time Score - 0 - 0

Match Summary;

Another hard fought point against decent opposition so although we miss the chance to move up the table, we didn't lose and it's another clean sheet which is a positive sign. 

My Man of the Match - Nik Tzanev.

Attendance - 8,086.

Today's Referee - Our match referee for this afternoon will be Mr James Oldham from Derbyshire, was appointed to the National League in 2018, and then the following season took charge of games in the EFL, has been averaging around four bookings a game this season (dished out 10 on the opening day when Stevenage played Barrow). Will have some assistance from both Nicholas Cooper and Kevin Howick on the side lines while our fourth official today is Adrian Tranter

Next league one fixture;
  vs Burton Albion (Away)
  Saturday 22nd January @3:00pm.