AFC WIMBLEDON v LUTON TOWN -- LEAGUE ONE 2018-19 SEASON 27th OCTOBER

AFC Wimbledon vs Luton Town Play Off Final 2011

This weekend the Dons will play host to Luton Town who used to be one of our bogie teams since our non league days until we beat them on penalties in the play off final back in 2011. They are not the big scalp they once were while in the Conference and should be more of an even match this season with both clubs looking to move home soon too.

The Dons are in a really bad run of form losing to several teams in the bottom half as well as others in the relegation zone (Bradford, Plymouth) has meant they have now joined them in the bottom four. Another loss on Tuesday night 2-0 away to Bristol Rovers, another side who were in the bottom six prior to that and I think the calls for Neal Ardley to go will become a lot more vocal. [If he hasn't already gone by Saturday that is.] Three important points will be up for grabs, after the Dons losses in their previous league games a win is looking essential to stop the rot at the bottom end of the league one table. Luton Town come here after a 4-1 win midweek against Accrington Stanley and are currently in 6th place in the league with 25 points to show for their efforts so far, the Dons are at the other end of the current table in 22nd place on 11 points after their run of defeats. 

FORM GUIDE 
(Last 6 matches in the league, starting with most recent)
AFC Wimbledon -- LLLLLW
Luton Town -- WWLWWD




LAST TIME OUT

Bristol Rovers 2 AFC Wimbledon 0
Luton Town 4 Accrington Stanley 1 

Updates will be published with team news and more news as and when it comes through. It's an all ticket match but not expecting this one to sell out by any means due to the poor run of form for the Dons. It is usually well attended although expecting some further train disruption in the Wimbledon and Kingston areas as usual from South Western Railway who are on strike for the next few weekends, perhaps we should sign them up we could do with some experienced strikers now. A big hand for ex-Don and Luton goalkeeper James Shea if he's between the posts here while the Dons have Jake Jervis on loan so unsure if he'll be allowed to play against his parent club today. Luton will be favourites, I suggest you lump on and include them in all accumulators this weekend.

Line Ups (confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 14/5 (William Hill) 

McDonnell (Gk)  Purrington,  Oshilaja (c),  Nightingale,  McDonald,  Wagstaff,  Soares,  Hartigan,  Appiah,  Trotter,  Hanson.

Subs – King (Gk),  Burey,  Pinnock,  Egan,  Watson,  Thomas,  Pigott

LUTON TOWN

Odds -- 19/20 (William Hill) 

Shea (Gk),  Stacey,  Pearson,  Bradley,  Justin,  Shinnie,  Rea,  Mpanzu,  Lee,  Hylton,  Collins

Subs –  Isted (Gk),  McCormack,  Cornick,  LuaLua,  Jarvis,  Jones,  Sheehan (c)

H/T Score – 0 - 0

First Half Comment;
A very cold and blustery Kingsmeadow sees the Dons start against Luton on a dreadful run. Need to convert some chances, but it's Luton who have the first decent chance when Danny Hylton hits the post with a header, we are lucky not to be behind after a few minutes. The Dons first chance comes from James Hansen who forces a save from James Shea in the hatters goal. 

Dull Dull Dull, nothing happening, a lot of fouls (no cards) and few corners that come to nothing. God we are awful but so are Luton. Piss poor first half of football and we might hanging onto a point. 

F/T Score – 0 - 2

Match Summary;
A goal early on the hour mark in the second half, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu (great name) for Luton Town with a right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left and the hatters go one up and the Dons crowd want Ardley gone. 

Then on 66 minutes it's a penalty for Luton Town conceded by Anthony Hartigan after a foul on Danny Hylton, Danny steps up himself and it's saved down the centre by McDonnell to keep the Dons in the game but they haven't created much this half to get back in it? And the answer is NO as Luton go two up via a Elliot Lee beating McDonnell with a drive from outside the area. Surely this is the end for Ardley I cannot face more of the same boring media speak about hard work and pulling together .... no there is no fight in the squad, no passion on display, this is not the Wimbledon I was brought up on. 

My Man of the Match – No one in a Dons Shirt.

Referee -- Our referee for this afternoon's big game will be Andy Davis from Hampshire, his 7th season in the football league as an official and has been doing some Championship games this season so is one of the more experienced on the list. Averages about 4 bookings a game so will aim to back that market if we can but as usual we are not expecting a lot of help from the man in the middle. 

Attendance – 4,202.

Next match:
Saturday 3rd November vs Shrewsbury (Home)
League One 3:00pm 

2018 FA CUP FIRST ROUND DRAW -- MONDAY 22nd OCTOBER

The draw for the First Round of this years Emirates FA Cup will be made later on Monday night live on BBC TV, another sure sign that Winter is soon to be upon us. While we are currently struggling in League One it will be good to mount a reasonable Cup run for a change and maybe get as far as playing a Premier League side as we did last year losing to Spurs at Wembley in round three.

There are 80 Numbers in the "hat" for the first round proper, the draw is live on BBC Two at 7pm hosted by Mark Chapman, Lynsey Hipgrave will supervise the draw with two footballing guests, Dennis Wise and Dion Dublin (little and large) will be drawing the balls out. Plenty of non league interest and stories from amongst the 32 sides that have made it from qualifying, these include the boys in blue, Met Police who play local to me near Hampton Court would be interesting. A draw against Salford City would probably guarantee some air time on BBC TV in round one.

AFC Wimbledon have been assigned ball No. 2. A home draw would also be nice for a change, and I just hope we avoid the Franchise scum for obvious reasons In fact I wouldn't mind hosting Aldershot (Ball No.71) perhaps at this stage with the ambition for a lucrative tie in rounds three and four perhaps?

The Full 1st round draw will appear here during the evening as the ties are confirmed ... matches to be played over the period of 9th - 12th November the winners in round one will pick up £36,000 in prize money for their efforts.

  Haringey Borough        Vs        AFC Wimbledon
  Maidstone United        Vs        Macclesfield
  Ebbsfleet United        Vs        Cheltenham Town
  Hampton and Richmond        Vs        Oldham Athletic
  Swindon Town        Vs        York City
  Mansfield Town        Vs        Charlton Athletic
  Torquay United        Vs        Woking
  Scunthorpe United        Vs        Burton Albion
  Port Vale        Vs        Sunderland
  Aldershot Town        Vs        Bradford City
  Grimsby Town        Vs        MK Scum
  Chorley        Vs        Doncaster Rovers
  Alfreton Town        Vs        Fleetwood Town
  Bromley        Vs        Peterborough
  Southport        Vs        Boreham Wood or Dagenham
  Plymouth Argyle        Vs        Stevenage
  Chesterfield        Vs        Billericay Town or Taunton Town
  Lincoln City        Vs        Northampton Town
  Barnet        Vs        Bristol Rovers
  Yeovil        Vs        Stockport County

  Bury        Vs        Dover Athletic
  Gillingham        Vs        Hartlepool
  Oxford United        Vs        Forest Green Rovers
  Tranmere        Vs        Hemel Hempstead or Oxford City
  Accrington Stanley        Vs        Colchester United
  Barnsley        Vs        Notts County
  Shrewsbury        Vs        Salford City
  Met Police        Vs        Newport County
  Walsall        Vs        Coventry City
  Rochdale        Vs        Gateshead

  Hitchen Town or Leatherhead        Vs       Solihull Moors
  Sutton United        Vs        Slough Town
  Guiseley        Vs        Cambridge United
  Exeter City        Vs        Blackpool
  Luton Town        Vs        Wycombe Wanderers
  Morecambe        Vs        Warrington Town or Halifax Town
  Crewe Alexandra        Vs        Carlisle United
  Southend United        Vs        Crawley Town
  Chippenham or Maidenhead    Vs        Portsmouth
  Western Super Mare        Vs        Harrogate Town or Wrexham

Good luck all (except Franchise FC obviously).

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2018 TURF SEASON -- PART SIXTEEN (FINALE)

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2018.

Monday 22nd October.
Welcome to this our 16th and Final meeting of the year. 

1st race 2.00pm, gates open 12 noon. 

This is our final meeting as the 2018 season draws to a close it sees our final Listed Race where the 2yos take to the stage in the EBF Silver Tankard Stakes off at 15:30. As the nights draw in, Mondays in October can seem a bit dark but we’ve got something to brighten the darkest Autumnal day. There’s some really good racing on this day as many trainers try to get their horses to the track for one final run. It’s always a popular and well attended race meeting as it’s time to have a final catch up with the friends that you’ve made at Pontefract through the season. There will be the chance to do some very early Christmas shopping when the Injured Jockeys Fund bring their stall. Or you could always purchase an annual badge for 2019? I'll be back so hope you will.

We had a small loss last time around and we had to take a hit on our balance so we come into the final meeting of the year behind to the tune of -31.95 to Starting Prices. This is our last chance to get this back before the season is over. We have throughout this season recorded ALL results for these fixtures to a level stake at Starting Price (SP), and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures.

The forecast going is now currently reported as 'Soft, Heavy in places' the weather for Monday afternoon is for a generally cloudy day with some chance of showers but hopefully not too much rain to spoil the day We've a forecast maximum temperature around the 16C mark as we come to the end of the season here in Autumn.

Here are our selections for the eight races on Monday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process using stalls one and two in every race;

14:00 1m 6yds Nursery Handicap (2yo).
(1) -- TONY CHESTNUT  [11th 4/1].
(2) -- OLLIVANDER  [10th 14/1].

14:30 6f Novice Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- COMBINATION  [7th 40/1].
(2) -- JUST LATER  [Non Runner].

15:00 1m 2f 5yds Handicap.
(1) -- ARMANDIHAN  [7th 7/2].
(2) -- FRAMLEY GARTH  [3rd 9/1].

15:30 1m 6yds Silver Tankard Listed Stakes.
(1) -- MANUELA DE VEGA   [WON 10/11F].
(2) -- DIVINE GIFT  [5th 16/1].

16:00 1m 4f 5yds Maiden (Div One).
(1) -- IMAGINATIVE  [WON 6/4].

(2) -- LORD OF THE PACE  [7th 13/2].

16:30 1m 4f 5yds Maiden (Div Two).

(1) -- GALITELLO  [3rd 7/2].

(2) -- PERFECT MYTH  [5th 33/1].

17:00 2m 2f 2yds Jamaican Flight Handicap.

(1) -- HEDIDDODINTHE  [7th 100/1].
(2) -- ROYAL FLAG  [2nd 4/1].

17:30 5f 3yds Handicap.
(1) -- PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH  [6th 5/2].
(2) -- ARCAVALLO. [9th 11/2]

Staked -- 16 points.
Returns -- 5.41 points.

We reach the end of the season with a disappointing loss figure of -31.95 points to SP. Results from today's final meeting will be updated in the early evening. Lost another -10.59 points today so a disappointing end to the year here with an overall deficit of -42.54. 

And that is all from us for the 2018 season here, all being well we return for the first race meeting of 2019 around April. Hope to see you then.