AFC Wimbledon vs Crawley Town: Dons look for first win in 10 games as they face fierce rivals
Their hopes of bouncing back to League One as good as over, Johnnie Jackson’s AFC Wimbledon will look to break their wretched nine-game winless run when they host Crawley Town at Plough Lane on Saturday.
The Dons’ last win came all the way back in January when they beat fellow promotion hopefuls Stockport County 1-0, and they now sit 16th in the table and 13 points behind Salford City who currently occupy the final play-off spot.
Scott Lindsey’s Crawley go into the game on the back of last Saturday’s 3-1 win against Harrogate Town, but they are not short of problems of their own. The Red Devils find themselves second from the bottom and are staring at the prospect of non-league football next season, if the results do not improve quick.
With 10 matches left to play of their season, Wimbledon will once again turn to young forwards Josh Davison and Ali Al-Hamadi, who has been rewarded with a call-up to the Iraq national team for their friendly against Russia in Sochi on March 27.
Al-Hamadi, 21 years of age, has scored six goals in 11 appearances for Wimbledon since signing from Wycombe Wanderers to fill the gaping hole left by the departure of Ayoub Assal to Qatar’s Al-Wakrah in the January transfer window.
But it has been the defence that has caused Jackson much of the headache in the last couple of months. They have conceded two or more goals in five of their last outings, as their play-off hopes evaporated.
And Crawley’s Aramide Oteh, who bagged a double against Harrogate, will be eyeing to put that leaky defence to test yet again while former Crystal Palace and Cardiff City midfielder Jordon Mutch, who joined earlier this month after ending a stint in Australia with Macarthur FC, also scored his maiden goal for the Red Devils to gift them a rare victory last week.
It was Wimbledon who emerged 2-0 winners when the two sides met in the league at Broadfield Stadium last August and Jackson will hope his side will be able to replicate that success in front of their home support come Saturday.
Read more: AFC Wimbledon surrender third successive lead as Mansfield Town march on
