Bolton take on AFC Wimbledon tomorrow in the first normal Saturday away day since March 2020 when we played…AFC Wimbledon. Funny how those things work.
A lot has happened since then. The obvious thing being the pandemic, but massive change for both clubs, what with us going down, then back up to League One. For the Dons, their league status has been settled as they’ve remained in the top tier, but whereas 17 months ago we played them at Kingsmeadow, tomorrow we’ll be at the new ground at the historic Plough Lane site.
Wanderers will come into this confident, after taking a point last weekend then knocking Barnsley out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. We should also have nearly a full compliment of players too as the squad edges it’s way to fitness after a difficult summer.
IAN EVATT | Manager previews trip to AFC Wimbledon – YouTube
Team news
Declan John is fit once again after missing Tuesday’s cup tie. Apart from the trio of Will Aimson, Xavier Amaechi and Liam Edwards, everyone should be available for us. Alex Baptiste not playing on Tuesday would suggest he will play tomorrow, so it’s a straight fight between the recovering Ricardo Santos and George Johnston for the second centre-half place.
Possible XI: Gilks, Jones, Almeida Santos, Baptiste, John; Sheehan, Williams; Bakayoko, Sarcevic, Afolayan; Doyle
The opposition
Good times for AFC Wimbledon, who are finally home after their new ground opened last autumn. Their season has started rather well too, winning at Doncaster in the league last weekend before a League Cup win at Charlton in midweek. Last season’s top scorer Joe Pigott left for Ipswich in the summer though, so will that hurt them come the end of the season? They’re managed by Mark Robinson, who has come through the ranks at the club to eventually take over the first team this year. Players of note include Darius Charles, a versatile player, but mainly a defender, who returned this summer after a spell at Wycombe. Midfielder Alex Woodyard has become the captain in just his second season at the club. Ben Heneghan hasn’t quite established himself as a fixture at the back but was popular when he was at Blackpool a few years ago.
Previously…
That early March afternoon last year was, as mentioned, the last time we played AFC Wimbledon. The match ended in a goalless draw as Bolton were in the middle of a three match unbeaten run, days later we went on to draw 2-2 at Burton, then three days after that football was suspended and League One would be done for the 2019/20 campaign. Only Dennis Politic (until he goes out on that loan that’s seemingly on the cards) and Ali Crawford remain at the club from our starting XI that day, although Harry Brockbank, Ronan Darcy and Matthew Alexander were all the bench.
Prediction
Two teams here who should be happy with their starts to the season, so while if we want to be thinking about finishing at the good end of the league, we might be wanting to go and win this, I think it might be a case of only ending up with a point tomorrow. 1-1.
A new ground…
As Plough Lane is a new ground, it might be worth sharing some information on the local area. If you’re navigating London’s public transport, the best bet seems to go to Earlsfield railway station. If you’re coming from Euston, you can get a Victoria Line tube to Vauxhall and change there for Earlsfield, which is a National Rail job. From there it’s about a 10 to 15 minute walk to the ground, with the Earlsfield and the Halfway House pubs nearby apparently OK for Wanderers fans.