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.