FA CUP 3rd ROUND -- WIMBLEDON vs SUTTON SAT 7th JANUARY 2017

It's FA CUP THIRD ROUND Day this weekend and the recent draw has given us another away trip to non league opposition. Thankfully not too far this time across London to SUTTON UNITED. Would be good to have a decent cup run this season and this tie against National League opponents gives us a great chance to make it through to the fourth round, historically it is also significant as Sutton were our first ever opponents when we had to reform as AFC Wimbledon of course we hope that the scoreline is not a 4-0 defeat this time around. 

PREVIOUS MEETING
Sutton 4 AFC Wimbledon 0 
(Wednesday 10 July 2002)
We didn't play them in our non leagues days as they were relegated in the 2008 season as we were promoted from the Ryman Premier so it's our first proper meeting since 2002. 

FORM GUIDE (Last 6 in league, starting with most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- LLWLDD
Sutton United -- WLWLWL


LAST TIME OUT
Sutton United 2  Bromley 0
AFC Wimbledon 2  Millwall 2

Being drawn against Sutton again is significant for the Dons as they supplied our first opponents in a friendly after our reformation in 2002. The game is already sold out so we have a full contingent of Dons fans going again to cheer on the boys in Yellow and Blue to more FA Cup glory.


Our boys have been struggling in the league a little of late, defeats to Southend and Bristol Rovers over Christmas means we are mid-table in the league but the Cup is another matter and we need to be on our game to see off Sutton, who I am sure will up their game against us and come here off the back of a 2-0 home win against Bromley in the National League where they currently lie 14th. We don't really want to see a repeat of the opening 80 minutes against Curzon Ashton in the last round although the last 10 minutes did come good for us, I'm not sure my nerves can handle being 3-0 down again to another non league side. The Dons will be wary of ex player Matt Tubbs who will surely lead the attack for Sutton and could still be a handful given an opportunity, but you would expect our experience and speed to be too much for them over 90 mins (he says). 

Updates will be published with team news and more as and when it comes through. 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 10/11 (William Hill) 

Shea (Gk),  Fuller (c),  Charles,  Robinson,  Kelly,  Parrett,  Reeves,  Bulman,  Barcham,  Taylor,  Elliott

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Francomb,  Poleon,  Barnett,  Egan,  Owens,  Robertson

SUTTON UNITED
Odds -- 5/2 (William Hill) 

Worner (Gk), Downer, Collins, Beckwith, Amankwaah, Deacon, Bailey, Eastmond, Gomis, Tubbs, Biamou

Subs – Shaw (Gk), John, Hudson-Odoi, Fitchett, May, Spence, Monakana

 
H/T Score – 0 - 0

First Half Comment;
A quiet first half of football really although some half chances fall to either side and most notably Matty Tubbs is making a nuisance of himself for Sutton but it's still all square and can surely only improve. 

Jake Reeves (Wimbledon) and Simon Downer (Sutton) each pick up a booking too and that's about it for the opening 45 mins.

F/T Score – 0 - 0

Match Summary;
Yawn. Wow after the exciting game in the previous round this was dull. A full house at Gander Green Lane were treated to a boring 0-0 and the home supporters must have been disappointed not to have won really as they were clearly the more productive side over the 90 mins. 

So a replay in a little over a week back at Kingsmeadow on a cold / wet Jan evening it is then, I guess we might be excited by a possible 4th round tie depending on how the draw goes on Monday night.


My Man of the Match – James Shea.

Referee -- Our referee for this important third round FA Cup tie is Keith Stroud from Bournemouth. He's a proud fan of Luton Town but we shouldn't hold that against him, a very experienced referee we should be in safe hands.

Attendance – 5.200.

Next match:
vs OXFORD UNITED (Home)
Football League One 3:00pm

CHELTENHAM NH MEETING - NEW YEARS DAY 2017

Welcome to 2017, Happy New Year to you all.

AND THEY ARE OFF !! ... TO ITV 

We kick off the new year with the traditional opening meeting at Cheltenham, which will be the first to be shown on ITV again after an absence of over 30 years the channel now returns as the exclusive terrestrial broadcaster of British Horse racing. While it is also only 10 weeks till the festival so each meeting should have it's own clues to the future. 

Today it's a 7 race card, the feature events are a pair of Grade 2 contests, the Dipper Novices Chase and the Relkeel Hurdle which are both run over 2m 4f.

Here are our selections for the card; 

12:15 -- 2m 4f 56y Novice Hurdle (Listed).

Dashing Oscar was only able to take 3rd on Friday and even if he reappears will find this hard to win off top weight but could run well enough to place. Stablemate STEEL BOB [Pulled up 16/1] looks a bit of value at the other end of the weights and is paired with MINOTAUR [7th 8/1] to get us off to a winning start in 2017.

12:50 -- 3m 2f 70y Handicap Chase

A nice big field for the staying chase should be fairly spectacular watching these take on the fences again, open contest as you'd expect and we go with DOCTOR HARPER [2nd 14/1] and BELMONT [10th 33/1] as our two against the field. A good race to watch with the big staying handicap races at the festival a possible for some of these?

13:25 -- 2m 4f 166y "The Dipper" Novices Chase (Grade 2)

Just a small field of five now for the first feature event on New Years Day, only Never Equalled looks truly out of things but will pick up a little place money with a safe round. 

The favourite will probably be CLAN DES OBEAUX for Paul Nicholls but WHISPER [WON 11/4] is a decent animal on his day and could be the value bet against the rest this afternoon having won his Novice Chase around this course last month. 

14:00 -- 2m 4f 166y Handicap Chase (Grade 3)

With the Colin Tizzard yard in such great form of late it would be no surprise if his QUITE BY CHANCE [6th 6/1] can take this and carry on the good run. Recent Aintree winner AS DE MEE may not be as suited by this course and preference is for TOP GAMBLE [3rd 8/1] even with top weight.

14:35 -- 2m 7f 213y Handicap Hurdle

WHAT A KNIGHT [Non Runner] / ROCKLANDER [2nd 2/1]. 

15:10 -- 2m 4f 56y Relkeel Hurdle (Grade 2)

Former world hurdle winner COLE HARDEN [3rd 7/1] should fine this ground more to his liking and if allowed a soft lead could prove very hard to peg back. 

At a decent price to place AGRAPART [WON 16/1] looks worth a look too. 

15:40 -- 1m 5f 209y Open NH Flat Race

We finish off with a massive 16 runner bumper, the market will probably be the best guide and it's a race I would personally avoid but if the market speaks well of DAPHNE DU CLOS [2nd 5/2] that might be worth a shout. 


A great day to see in the New Year, a few winners, some places and a nice profit too. Well done on Agrapart Lizzie Kelly you are awesome. 

Will aim to update results later in the day and then we will be into the swing of things for 2017 with regular features for Kempton Park on Wednesday nights as well as Pontefract, and the bigger festivals at Cheltenham, Aintree, Galway amongst others. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL 2017

So that was 2016 eh ... Next !! 

Yeah it's over now but was it any good ... I mean we lose so many wonderful stars this past year and from a personal perspective it was a year of attrition. And just when you think it can't get any worse we lose George Micheal too on Xmas Day itself. Let's have a moment of reflection for all the great names we have lost in the last year, I think we start with Lemmy last Christmas, then the likes of Bowie, Prince, Glenn Frey, Leonard Cohen then in the past week Rick Parfitt and George and that's just from the world of music let alone the star actors and entertainers we also lost. RIP guys, God must be putting one hellva band together up there. 

On the football front AFC Wimbledon won a play off final at Wembley in May and now sit mid table in League One, things are going ok on the pitch but the biggest and best news was that the decision to redevelop the old Greyhound stadium on Plough Lane to create a new permanent home for the Dons back in Wimbledon itself was giving the go ahead by the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) and Merton council. Still bit more red tape to clear but it's closer and is going to happen, in a few years we will enjoy the special atmosphere that the return will bring and I just pray that I am still alive and kicking to enjoy it too. 

Horse Racing was ok, am not really enjoying it as much in the NH season now as I used too, a sign of getting old I guess. However we still go to the meetings in the Spring and Summer and I do enjoy those, so this should continue into 2017 and the aim will be to visit at least one "new" course that I've never been to before though not sure where that will be yet. 

Throughout the coming year I will also continue with the regular Kempton and Pontefract blogs and see if we can improve on this years efforts. There will also be feature meetings around such big festival events as Cheltenham (March), Aintree (April), Royal Ascot (June) and Galway (July/August). 





Plenty to look ahead too, still reminisce about the past with trips to North Wales (Llandudno, Blaenau Ffestiniog) and also York (National Railway Museum) both long overdue. So whatever life throws at you in the coming year do your best to make some happy memories too. Thinking of friends and family always, have a tremendous New Year and I pray that 2017 is full of fun, love and happiness.