Key events
Half-time: Wimbledon 1-0 Walsall
It needed something to happen and that was always most likely from set piece. Myles Hippolyte’s finish was a beauty and hopefully opens up the second half.
45+2 min: Simkin had no chance with that skidding finish. Walsall push on immediately, and Liam Gordon is in a promising position, only to lose his footing.
Goal! Wimbledon 1-0 Walsall (Hippolyte, 45+1)
Tilley’s kick is to the back post, the ball bounces clear and the second ball – after a previous hack – is walloped by Hippolyte low past Simkin.
44 min: Long throw from Harbottle causes problems, and a Wimbledon corner.
42 min: Wimbledon with the greater possession, Walsall looking to the counter. The passes are not exactly landing.
xG – if you should be bothered 0.12 – 0 in Wimbledon’s favour. Just over a tenth of a goal to nil.
41 min: This was planned by both managers, looking to close off any margins. The TV commentators, Jobi McAnuff, sounds like he is beginning to lose heart.
39 min: Reeves’ pass finds Tilley in space but not in good touch. Are Wimbledon beginning to find space? It’s in terribly short supply.
37 min: Goodman, the Wimbledon keeper, almost gets rumbled by Matt, and has to hack clear.
35 min: One real shot on goal. No risks taken. Penalties seem to beckon, even at this juncture.
33 min: McEntee is Walsall’s replacement for Williams, who struggles to leave the field. His first job is to deal with the corner from Browne’s saved shot.
31 min: Walsall’s Williams hurt himself when failing to get to Browne. Running repairs being carried out but that’s it for Williams.
30 min: Long balls being attempted, but forwards and wing-backs are not picking up in the loose….at last, the ball is launched to Browne and a fine save from Tommy Simkin.
27 min: We’re waiting for something to light this game up. It’s decidedly cagey. Plenty of nerves.
25 min: Smith has another sighter, with even less accuracy. Dave Bassett is in the crowd today. The true father of the Wimbledon way.
23 min: It was Callum Maycock who swapped boots with Stevens….can anyone remember an incident like this? The boots just fell apart. You never got that in Alan Cork’s day.
22 min: As Stevens gets shod, his teammate, Ali Smith, has a sighter at goal, but blams it wide.
20 min: Stevens on the end of a tackle and his boots look to have fallen apart. He has to borrow a pair from a teammate. Was the old warhorse wearing his lucky boots from 2016?
18 min: Neither team has attempted to get the ball down and play. These playoffs have not been much of an advert for Pep Guardiola’s sustained influence on English football.
16 min: Walsall go back down the other end. Chang fancies a dig but too much traffic. Goodman, the Palace loanee, eventually claims a long throw. Both teams use them, and regularly.
14 min: Long-throw chance, Harbottle launches for Wimbledon. Hippolyte seized on it. Stevens in the area but Simkin sprawls on the ball.
13 min: So, as prescribed, it’s tense, and an intriguing, absorbing tactical battle.
12 min: Lots of the ball dropping loose in the area; nothing clearcut has fallen yet.
10 min: Hippolyte seizes on a loose ball, and Chang is aware to the danger. Much is expected of the Birmingham loanee.
8 min: A glimmer there, as Wimbledon’s Browne speeds away and fails to find Stevens. Browne then takes a fierce tackle; reducer?
6 min: Good tussle there between George Hall and Wimbledon’s Lewis, who tackles in the spirit of Eric Young and Andy Thorn.
5 min: Walsall force a corner, and here’s where the game can be won and lost. This time, Chang gives it too much leather and troubles the drones over the field rather than any players.
3 min: Early attack from Wimbledon, Tilley zings in a cross, and Walsall’s Stirk does the mopping up
2 min: The word is both team’s managers like the ball to be played long. That’s bad news and good news. The Wembley nerves can do funny things to footballers’ range of passing.
Away we go at Wembley
1 min: Walsall get it launched from goalie Simkin. Not as many fans there as were on Saturday and Sunday but loud nonetheless.
The game kicks off at 3.01pm to draw attention to a British Heart Foundation campaign led by 1988 hero/antihero Vinnie Jones.
Jake Reeves, Wimbledon skipper, speaks. He was around in 2016: “Obviously it’s two different games in two different eras. It’s going to be difficult, we know what we’re coming up against in this Walsall team.
“We have an unbelievable defensive record and we’ve shown we can score a lot of goals. It’s exactly the sort of game that people will want to watch.”
After Tyrece Campbell on Saturday, Tyreese Campell on Sunday, who can be a game-changer?
Just like the League One playoff, neither manager – Matt Sadler of Walsall, and Johnnie Jackson of Wimbledon – makes any changes from the second leg.
Let’s hope for a slightly better game, as tense as it was.
The Championship game had much more drama.
The teams
AFC Wimbledon: Goodman, Harbottle, Lewis, Johnson, Tilley, Smith, Reeves, Hippolyte, Neufville, Browne, Stevens. Subs: Ward, Maycock, Kelly, Ball, Sasu, Ogundere, Pigott.
Walsall: Simkin, Okagbue, Williams, Allen, Asiimwe, Chang, Stirk, Liam Gordon, Jellis, Hall, Matt. Subs: Hornby, Connor Barrett, McEntee, Lakin, Amantchi, Comley, Adomah.
Referee: Will Finnie (Bedfordshire)
How they got there
Preamble
The last match of the English domestic season sees Wimbledon return to the scene of their most famous coup. Not 2016, but 1988. Walsall looked nailed on to be automatically promoted only to lose their way as the season dragged on. Walsall were 30 seconds from automatic promotion until Antoni Sarcevic’s 96th-minute winner for Bradford to usurp them. Here is their redemption arc but the good people of Earlsfield and Morden will be roaring on their Dons.
Kick-off is at 3.01pm, join me.
