With a 25-point gap to make up and just two remaining matches in which to do it, it’s now safe to assume that Stevenage will not be making the playoffs this season. It’s like all those times you’ve arrived at Jumpin’ Jaks decked out in your best clobber, only to be turned away because you’re actually only 15-years-old. And that’s despite all the riff-raff that have somehow – and amazingly -been allowed to make it into the WKD-soaked cheese factory*.
*mentioning no Accringtons.
Stevenage v AFC Wimbledon: Let’s Get It (d)On…
It is with the type of wafer-thin irony that Alanis Morrissette would sing about that AFC Wimbledon come to this Lamex Stadium this weekend being that team 25 points down the road. If the Dons are seen leaving our gaff with suitcases they didn’t bring and a veritable smorgasbord of possessions that look strangely like our own, it will be enough to confirm their spot in the end-of-season festivities known colloquially as the Football League playoffs…
…at the expense of Cambridge United.
Not that we should be remotely bothered about the Dons. This is our last game indoors until the traditional April snowstorms are replaced by the delightfully tepid August sunshine. And things, better late than never have started to get a bit serious. Having put four past Morecambe on the road last time out, we’re now staring at the chance of moving up again in the table. By the end of the term, we could be borderline mid-table – and after all that worry!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet, however.
AFC Wimbledon have beaten us just the once before, but it doesn’t count as it was in the second-rate John Stones’ Paint Trophy – and they needed a pelanty shoot-out. And with the exception of our first meeting back in December 2009, we’ve managed to bag two or more goals whenever we come up against them. But the Dons owe much to their current fortune to decent form away from the London Borough of Kingston – just five away defeats this season.
Potent in attack, tight in defence; our three-match unbeaten stretch at home will come under close scrutiny. The bookies’ odds do not make for kind reading, with our guests best priced at 11/13 (Marathon) to take the win they need to confirm their reservation at Hotel de Playoff. Evens on Over 2.5 Goals is a generous shout in our books, while 10/11 (Will Hill) on Both Teams To Score is another contender to be put down on our virtual betting slip.
One thing that’s surely a dead cert, however, is that the next time we rock up to the Lamex with a ball under our arm and oranges for half time – we’ll be a different proposition. And as for this weekend, this final dance under the 2015-6 stars? Well, we’re either going to be waving the Dons off into the playoffs or throwing a wedge in the promotion door for Cambridge to claw at. Which are we more in favour of? Frankly our dears, we don’t give a damn…
BoroGuide’s AFC Wimbledon club profile – what do you think of it so far?