AFC WIMBLEDON FINALLY APPOINT A NEW MANAGER -- WALLY DOWNES

It feels like an eternity since Neal Ardley left the Dons last month, and having apparently receiving over 80 applications for the vacancy of manager the board whittled it down to three candidates and have finally announced the position has been offered to Wally Downes. Good luck Wally you will have a nice FA Cup 3rd round to enjoy in January but the real work starts on Saturday against Rochdale.

Alan Pardew has been leading the search and Downes has landed the job on a two-and-a-half-year deal. He has been working in India alongside former Crystal Palace boss Steve Coppell at ATK. Wally previously spent a two year stint managing Brentford and has coached extensively in the Championship and Premier League at Reading, Crystal Palace and West Ham. Glyn Hodges comes in as his assistant and he has also coached in the Premier League for Fulham as well as holding senior roles in player development at a number of clubs, including Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Manchester City. Simon Bassey will step back from his role as interim manager and continue as first team coach while Stephen Reid, who has been supporting Simon in his role, will step down. 

There were reports earlier in the week linking former Bolton and Newcastle player Kevin Nolan with the position which would have been interesting with ex Dons boss Neal Ardley having been unveiled at Nolan's previous managerial appointment with Notts County. Good luck to Neal too.

FA CUP THIRD ROUND DRAW, MONDAY 3rd DECEMBER [BBC1 7:30PM]

The draw for the Third Round of this years Emirates FA Cup will be made later on tonight, it will be broadcast live on the BBC One Channel and the Dons have made it into this draw after overcoming Halifax 3-1 on Saturday.

There are 64 Numbers in the "hat" for the Third Round, The 44 clubs from the Premier League and Championship enter the fray at this stage, joining the 20 clubs who prevail from this weekend's second round ties. We are at Stamford Bridge the home of the FA Cup holders Chelsea FC and the draw is live on air shortly after 7:30pm on Monday night, the program will be hosted by Mark Chapman and the balls will be drawn out by former Chelsea, AC Milan and Holland legend Ruud Gullit and Liverpool, Manchester United and England's Paul Ince.

AFC Wimbledon are ball No.57. And having made it this far a glamour tie with the potential for further funds would be very welcome especially with a new manager soon to be confirmed. I would love to get Arsenal or one of the Manchester clubs, knowing our luck we'll get Luton Town away or something but at least we are in the hat and we'll see what happens. Southport represent the lowest ranked side left in although they still have a replay against Tranmere. 

The third round is scheduled to take place over the weekend of Saturday 5 January 2019.

Winning clubs will receive £135,500 after The FA doubled the prize fund at the beginning of the season.

      Bolton Wanderers    Vs    Walsall / Sunderland

      Millwall    Vs    Hull City

      Gillingham    Vs    Cardiff City

      Brentford    Vs    Oxford United

      Sheffield Wednesday    Vs    Luton Town

      Manchester United    Vs    Reading

      Everton    Vs    Lincoln City

      Tranmere / Southport    Vs    Tottenham 

      Preston North End    Vs    Doncaster Rovers

      Newcastle United    Vs    Blackburn Rovers

      Chelsea    Vs    Nottingham Forest

      Crystal Palace    Vs    Grimsby

      Derby County    Vs    Southampton

      Accrington Stanley    Vs    Ipswich Town

      Bristol City    Vs    Huddersfield Town

      Wrexham / Newport    Vs    Leicester City

      Fulham    Vs    Oldham Athletic

      Shrewsbury    Vs    Stoke City

      Solihull Moors / Blackpool    Vs    Arsenal

      Manchester City    Vs    Rotherham United

      AFC Bournemouth    Vs    Brighton 

      West Ham United    Vs    Birmingham City

      Woking    Vs    Watford

      Burnley    Vs    Barnsley

      QPR    Vs    Leeds United

      Sheffield United    Vs    Barnet

      Norwich City    Vs    Portsmouth

      Fleetwood Town    Vs    AFC Wimbledon

      West Bromwich Albion    Vs    Wigan Athletic

      Middlesbrough    Vs    Peterborough / Bradford City

      Wolves    Vs    Liverpool

      Aston Villa    Vs    Swansea City

      

AFC Wimbledon will again be away in the next round to fellow League One side Fleetwood Town who beat a spirited Guiseley on Monday night 1-2. Not the 'glamour' tie we had hoped for but having beaten them on the opening game of the season at their place and with a new manager in place now it's a possible step onwards to the 4th round. 

Good luck to all in the 3rd round, see you in January.

FA CUP SECOND ROUND -- FC HALIFAX TOWN vs AFC WIMBLEDON SATURDAY 1st DECEMBER 2018

The FA Cup comes around once more with the Second Round beginning this coming Friday night and the draw has given the Dons an away tie against National League (Conference) Division outfit FC Halifax Town. This tie has been selected to be broadcast on Live TV although this time it is planned for Saturday 1st December on BT Sport with a kick off at 12:30 and again like our first round game in the FA Cup it throws up another genuine chance of an upset. 

FC Halifax play in the National League and currently sit in 14th place on 25 points after 21 games. AFC Wimbledon would love to be comfortably mid table. Halifax have needed replays to progress this year in the cup, but will surely fancy their chances against an out of form Dons side who are currently without a manager and struggled to see off non league opposition in the 1st Round.

FORM GUIDE (Last 6 matches in their respective leagues, starting with the most recent result)
      AFC Wimbledon  --  LWLLLL
      FC Halifax Town   --  LWLDLD



LAST TIME OUT
Peterborough United 1  AFC Wimbledon 0
Ebbsfleet Utd 4  FC Halifax Town 0

The Dons come into this important FA Cup game on the back of a terrible run of defeats in League One, which had risen to eight in a row following the 1-2 reverse to Doncaster prior to Saturday and thankfully they ended that run with a 2-1 win at home against Southend United. Another game against high flying Peterborough United to come on Tuesday, the Posh are currently 5th so might be a tough ask away for Simon Bassey's Dons [Lost 1-0], we hope that there will be an announcement soon about the new boss with Wally Downes the current favourite to replace the departed Neal Ardley who has since taken up the job with Notts County in League Two. 

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

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 4/6 (Bet365) 

McDonnell (Gk),  Oshilaja (c),  Nightingale,  McDonald,  Purrington,  Jervis,  Hartigan,  Wordsworth,  Soares,  Pinnock,  Pigott

Subs – King (Gk),  Thomas,  Watson,  Trotter,  Wagstaff,  Hanson,  Burey

FC HALIFAX TOWN

Odds -- 9/2 (Betfred) 

Johnson (Gk),  Hanson,  Clarke,  Brown (c),  Sellers,  Staunton,  Maher,  Preston,  King,  Kosylo,  Southwell

Subs – Rowley (Gk),  Duckworth,  Edwards,  Odelusi,  Skarz,  Leacock-McLeod

H/T Score – 0 - 1  

First Half Comment;

Dons weather a frantic storm from the home side in the opening half and eventually take the lead close to half time from Ben Purrington who smashes home the loose ball on 42mins. Bit of a deflection but he's our sponsored player so I'm giving it to Ben ... now can we hang on?

F/T Score – 1 - 3  

Match Summary;
At least we came out in the second half and were much more positive having taken that lead at the end of the opening half. Look much better going forwards though we didn't extend the lead until Anthony Wordsworth curls home a beauty in the 72nd minute to go two up, 3rd round draw beckons and one more will seal it for sure. 

Cue the 3rd a few minutes later a Mitch Pinnock free kick to Joe Pigott and it's three nil, thanks for coming. Halifax manage a consolation goal but it's scored by Wimbledon's James Hanson from a corner, but surely too late.

My Man of the Match – Mitchell Pinnock.

Referee -- Our referee for this important second round FA Cup tie will be Ben Toner from Lancashire. Has been busy in Leagues One and Two and can occasionally dish out plenty of cards. A penalty for us might be nice for a change.

Attendance – 2,044. 

Next match:
Saturday 8th December vs Rochdale (Home)

League One 3:00pm