Town will go hunting for a third consecutive victory tomorrow evening when we welcome AFC Wimbledon to The Envirovent Stadium.
The impressive home win against Salford City was followed up this past weekend with a resolute 1-0 win on the road at MK Dons to leave Simon Weaver’s side within touching distance of the top-half of the table in League Two.
Our opponents
In their return to life in League Two the Dons finished just two spots and five points off relegation last season.
Strengthening well in the summer though, the club added the likes of James Tilley, Omar Bugiel, Jake Reeves and James Ball.
And they have started brightly this time around, coming into the game in sixth position having accrued 17 points and have been defeated just once so far.
The Dons are amongst the league leaders in shots per game, averaging 16.1 whilst conceding a league low 9.9 shots per game.
Last season
There was an entertaining encounter down at Plough Lane at the end of October when two late goals for Wimbledon overturned a 2-1 deficit to snatch all three points.
Paul Kalambayi struck first for the hosts before Luke Armstrong and Alex Pattison put Town ahead early in the second-half only for Courtney Senior and Josh Davison to strike in the final five minutes to give Wimbledon a 3-2 win.
There was similar drama at The Envirovent Stadium at the end of the season when Town came back from 2-0 down to level with late goals from Luke Armstrong and Levi Sutton after Ethan Chislett’s double had put the Dons in the driving seat.
The man in charge
Johnnie Jackson is the man in charge, having taken over at the club in the summer of 2022 following the sides relegation to League Two. Jackson was previously manager of Charlton Athletic, initially impressing on a caretaker basis before landing the job permanently.
Jackson also made over 400 appearances in his playing career for Tottenham, Colchester and Charlton.
Ones to watch
James Tilley has netted seven times in nine appearance after arriving from Crawley, also adding a pair of assists whilst Iraqi international Ali Al Hamadi has continued his form from last season by hitting the target four times, including a hat-trick in the weekend win over Tranmere.
Armani Little and loanee Connor Lemonheigh-Evans add creativity and purpose from midfield and youngster Josh Neufville could also be a threat.
Solid in defence, the pairing of Isaac Ogundere and Ryan Johnson have been ever present as has goalkeeper Alex Bass.
History
The story of AFC Wimbledon is a well-known one, with the club being formed 20 years ago after the sanctioning by the FA of the move for Wimbledon FC to relocate to Milton Keynes.
The new club restarted in the ninth tier of English football, earning six promotions to make its way back to the EFL in 2011, with a further promotion to League One in 2016 before suffering relegation last season.
The club also moved back to their previous ‘home’ at Plough Lane in November 2020, with the ground built on the site of the old Wimbledon greyhound stadium just 250 yards from the original Plough Lane.
Team news
Simon Weaver faces some late fitness tests following on from Saturday’s win. Levi Sutton, Rod McDonald and Abraham Odoh will be assessed tomorrow after they sustained knocks against MK Dons.
However, more promising news is that Luke Armstrong and Jeremy Sivi have both returned to training having missed Saturday’s trip south