Bolton 4-0 AFC Wimbledon

After the disappointment of the midweek debacle against Burton, we move on to host AFC Wimbledon at the Unibol hoping to get back on track.

Our visitors are an interesting club inasmuch that they are owned by the fans via the Dons Trust who have a controlling interest. A guy in my pub is one of the "originals" - he and his kids still travel to every match from Norfolk and he's told me a fair bit about them and their supporter's trust.
When the "old" Wimbledon relocated 60 miles north to become the MK Dons, many fans felt they no longer represented Wimbledon so in 2002 established AFC in the 9th tier. Fans not only put in money, but volunteered to do everything from building work, to cleaning, pitch maintenance, marketing, ticket sales - you name it. The fans still run the administration of the club and make all the major decisions. The club rose through the leagues dramatically finally getting promoted to League 2 in 2011/12 and they still hold the record for the longest unbeaten run in the lower leagues - 78 games!
Nowadays they have a decent stadium, a very loyal fanbase and have been in League 1 since 2016 - although they are flirting with relegation this season.

Their league position belies their ability and competitiveness. Most of the games they have lost have been by the odd goal and my mate reckons that in many of the draws they've had they've been very close to winning.

But......they've had far too many draws despite competing against the top teams. Notable results since Xmas include draws with Burton, Portsmouth, Morecambe, Shrewsbury, Sunderland and Cheltenham and they lost by a single goal to Rotherham, Charlton and their hated rivals MKD.

They will definitely compete. Mark Robinson's side tend to play either 343 or 4231 depending on the opposition but he's not averse to tweaking it.

As for us, we are back at the Unibol with a decent pitch suited to our game although I suspect it will be windy. I hope the lads are hurt by their midweek performance and turn up with the right attitude and effort to make sure they win this one against the draw specialists.
Evatt will surely be aware of the need to win this if only from a morale perspective and will probably field his strongest team so my best guess would be that we win it, but not by a big margin.

COYWM!

wanderlust wrote:After the disappointment of the midweek debacle against Burton, we move on to host AFC Wimbledon at the Unibol hoping to get back on track.

Our visitors are an interesting club inasmuch that they are owned by the fans via the Dons Trust who have a controlling interest. A guy in my pub is one of the "originals" - he and his kids still travel to every match from Norfolk and he's told me a fair bit about them and their supporter's trust.
When the "old" Wimbledon relocated 60 miles north to become the MK Dons, many fans felt they no longer represented Wimbledon so in 2002 established AFC in the 9th tier. Fans not only put in money, but volunteered to do everything from building work, to cleaning, pitch maintenance, marketing, ticket sales - you name it. The fans still run the administration of the club and make all the major decisions. The club rose through the leagues dramatically finally getting promoted to League 2 in 2011/12 and they still hold the record for the longest unbeaten run in the lower leagues - 78 games!
Nowadays they have a decent stadium, a very loyal fanbase and have been in League 1 since 2016 - although they are flirting with relegation this season.

Their league position belies their ability and competitiveness. Most of the games they have lost have been by the odd goal and my mate reckons that in many of the draws they've had they've been very close to winning.

But......they've had far too many draws despite competing against the top teams. Notable results since Xmas include draws with Burton, Portsmouth, Morecambe, Shrewsbury, Sunderland and Cheltenham and they lost by a single goal to Rotherham, Charlton and their hated rivals MKD.

They will definitely compete. Mark Robinson's side tend to play either 343 or 4231 depending on the opposition but he's not averse to tweaking it.

As for us, we are back at the Unibol with a decent pitch suited to our game although I suspect it will be windy. I hope the lads are hurt by their midweek performance and turn up with the right attitude and effort to make sure they win this one against the draw specialists.
Evatt will surely be aware of the need to win this if only from a morale perspective and will probably field his strongest team so my best guess would be that we win it, but not by a big margin.

COYWM!

Good summary Lusty and like you I hope that the players are feeling chastised by the performance at Burton. I can’t see Evatt making the same selection mistakes again, so I expect Jones, Morley, Dapo and Charles to start with the others on the bench. In that case I expect a win and move on to Tuesday. Two wins this week should settle the nerves again and put us back on the path but there’s no doubt we’re under pressure now because we can’t accept any more slip ups to have a chance of the play offs. I’ll go 2-0 to the Whites in a comfortable win.

One to watch out for: Centre Forward Sam Cosgrove

Cosgrove joined Wimbledon on loan from Birmingham in the January window and at 6 '4" he's going to be an interesting challenge for Santos.
Good in the air (oh-oh!) and pacy for a big lad, Cosgrove didn't get much of a look in at Wigan where he was loaned out to a string of non-league sides including Chorley until he eventually got signed by Carlisle. After an unsuccessful season there he got a move to Aberdeen and hit peak form in the SPL scoring 31 times in 79 games. They finished runners-up in 2018.
After a handful of appearances for Birmingham following his £2 million move last year he was out on loan again, first to Shrewsbury and now AFC Wimbledon.
Cosgrove is a proper old school CF who usually bullies and occupies defenders so it will be interesting to see how he goes on against Santos - and if either gets sent off - but it should be tasty.

The next two games could well decide if we have any chance of getting into the playoffs.

6 points needed.

Stating the obvious I know.

A good 5, 6 or 7 niller for this.

Dixon
Jones Santos Johnston 
Fossey Morley Lee MJ John
Dapo Celine 

That's our best 11. 

You could swap Dempsey for Lee
And Dapo for Baka and her the same result. 


You can't drop Celine. His work rate is critical to our overall performance.

Back to winning ways i hope, i'm going for a 2-0 win for the Super Whites.

2-0 for me too. Woman ref for this one, so hope she's better that some we've seen.

Cajunboy wrote:The next two games could well decide if we have any chance of getting into the playoffs.

6 points needed.

Stating the obvious I know.

Not only that but the teams ahead of us need to start dropping points. Once again, we can't get out of 10th this weekend.

Wonder how many of us would accept a mid-table finish considering all things. I personally would consider it a good rebuild season however this run we are on is exciting no doubt.

terenceanne wrote:
Not only that but the teams ahead of us need to start dropping points. Once again, we can't get out of 10th this weekend.

Wonder how many of us would accept a mid-table finish considering all things. I personally would consider it a good rebuild season however this run we are on is exciting no doubt.

I've been saying this for ages, mid table this season, push on next one.

Norpig wrote:
I've been saying this for ages, mid table this season, push on next one.

Consolidation was all I really expected this season, but, in typical Wanderers style, they dangled the juicy worm of hope before our eyes, before viciously yanking it away.
The playoffs are still a possibility, but it requires the kind of run I don't believe we're capable of.

Ian Evatt has made � changes to the team to face [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] this afternoon.

Gethin Jones returns to action.
Aaron Morley replaces MJ Williams in the middle.
Dion Charles comes back in to start.
Dapo Afolayan gets the nod ahead of Kieran Sadlier.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Wanderers (@OfficialBWFC) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Wimbledon without three key players today and with Evatt picking a tried and trusted team I'm feeling a lot more confident about winning.
Pitch looks good - snow cleared and now they're watering it so should be slick.

Just got in from the match. An enjoyable and easy 3 points with 4 goals to boot. Didn't hit the five or more that I had predicted but easily could have done.

DadBod got off the mark.
Celine continues his good start with another goal.
Baka keeps popping them in!
And Dapo dapo got on the scoresheet yet again.

And another Trafford clean sheet.

It was good to see Jones and Morley back in too. Dempsey had his best game yet. 

Onward!

One of the most one-sided games in ages. We looked a class above all over the pitch.

Only based on this one game but that looks like our best side especially in midfield. Dempsey getting into the swing of it now and Morley slowly taking over. You can see the ball moving faster, much less back passing. MJ is our ball winner but often does nowt with it.
On that subject if MJ was being rested then why was he on the bench? and no Sub Goalkeeper again?

Hard to find a MOM today - Ian spoilt for choice currently....... Onwards.

Enjoyable game. Result never in doubt. That's how I like it.

Really good on the eye today could have been more, all 11 played well just nothing but positives all over the pitch.  I can understand the talk of consolodation, but if this squad had been in place in August then we would be pushing for automatic. This is not the BWFC of December so we should be expecting a push for the play offs.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL DEL ISLANDES BODVARSSON QUE HACE SU PRIMER GOL CON LOS WANDERERS!!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 1-0 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Latinoamerica (@BWFC_Latam) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

QUE VIVA EL FUTBOL DION PARA DAPO Y GOLAZO DEL BOLTON QUE GANA 2-0 EN EL UNIBOL!!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 2-0 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Latinoamerica (@BWFC_Latam) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL LLEGO EL QUE FALTABA, DION CHARLES SEÑORAS Y SEÑORES. GOLEADA DEL BOLTON EN CASA!!!![You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 3-0 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Latinoamerica (@BWFC_Latam) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

BODVARSSON
DAPO AFOLAYAN
DION CHARLES

B A K A Y O K O

GOLEADA EN EL UNIBOL STADIUM!! [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 4-0 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Latinoamerica (@BWFC_Latam) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great watch - we're as good as anyone in the league when we play on good pitches in good weather.

One of the most pleasing aspects for me was that Dempsey finally showed why Evatt brought him in - excellent work rate and decent on the ball. Bodvarsson was tidy too for the most part, protected the ball well and offered a threat.

Sure we have to keep beating the teams below us - we can't afford to slip up again when the conditions don't suit us like we did at Morecambe and Burton - but I now feel we have a chance in the remaining crunch matches against the teams above us. They all seem to be playing well apart from Sunderland, but our "six pointers" are against
MKD away
Plymouth home
Portsmouth home
Wigan away (probably not a six pointer but we need to get something from it)
Sheff W home

Can't wait.