Match Preview: Weymouth v AFC Wimbledon – Saturday 5th November 2022 – 15:00 – Emirates FA Cup First Round.
By Ted Slocombe
The big day is almost upon us as Weymouth prepare for their first FA Cup First Round appearance since 2007, as we take on EFL League Two AFC Wimbledon at the Bob Lucas Stadium tomorrow afternoon!
Manager Bobby Wilkinson spoke to us ahead of tomorrow’s game:
On preparations: “We’ve had a great week of training, the mood amongst staff and players is extremely positive. Everything has gone really well, as usual, it’s the standard we set for every game not just this one coming up, so it’s been very positive.”
On the excitement of playing in this game: “It is certainly exciting times, it’s not every week we play a league team of course so we’re going to relish the opportunity. The FA Cup is a great competition to be in, it’s an honour to manage this team for the game tomorrow, the players too will be honoured. It’s a big day for the club, we’re going to enjoy the challenge and we look forward to it.”
On AFC Wimbledon: “We’ve watched them twice this week, so we’ve certainly done our homework. We watched them play against Crewe on Saturday and then on Tuesday against Portsmouth to see some of their fringe players. We know what sort of shape they’ll go for, but they also have an important game Tuesday so their selection may be impacted by that. Despite that, we just got to go out there, work man to man with high energy and work rate. That’s what will help us in the game.”
On squad news: “Luke Nippard is not too far away now, the lump on his hamstring is starting to go down now. He’s been a big loss, we’ve been a bit unlucky with injuries but we can’t let it bother us. Everyone else is fit and ready to go. And like our opponents, we also have a big game on Tuesday so we need to be careful with selection.”
On what it means for him to take us on this FA Cup journey: “I’ve been sending everyone messages of thanks this week, these moments don’t come often so I want everyone associated with the club to enjoy tomorrow. As for the fans, we’ve got to make the ground a fortress so bang the drums, wave the flags, scarves and really get the place rocking! You can’t let moments like this pass you by, we need to put on an exciting football display, get balls into the box, win our battles and get people off their seats. We’re raring to go, but the twelfth man will be so important tomorrow as we’re playing against a league club. As for me, I always want to give something back to everyone at the club, of course we need the money, but tomorrow is a free hit, it’s the FA Cup! There’s always a shock, the question will be, can we go out there and be that shock!”
@TerraStatman’s Facts of the Match
This will be our first ever fixture against AFC Wimbledon! This is our 35th appearance in Round 1 of the FA Cup since our bow at this stage in 1925. Our last appearance was some 15 years ago!
Unsurprisingly, for a team that often enters at least one round before this stage (if not three or more!) we have only progressed to round 2 on 12 of the 34 visits to date. However, we did succeed last time out, a 4-0 win at Eastbourne in 2007. That was the last of three seasons in a row we enjoyed Round 1 FA cup football. In 2006, we endured a titanic tussle with Bury FC, a certain Andy Bishop being the thorn in our side over the initial 2-2 game and in the replay we lost 4-3. In 2005 (on this very day!) we progressed through three qualifying rounds and were rewarded by that most memorable of Novembers, when we were unlucky to come away from Nottingham Forest with a 1-1 draw. We were always left to wonder what might have been if Chukki Eribenne had only tucked away that early chance in the replay instead of smashing the post!
Four of the last five goalkeepers used by the Terras have been on the books at AFC Wimbledon at one time or another! Tommy Scott, Bert White, Billy Terrell and current custodian Zaki Oulalah have all featured! There are only two other players I can find who has featured for both sides – Matt Tubbs who was briefly on loan at Weymouth a few seasons ago and Danny Knowles who had a short tenure at with us in 2008-09.
#UpTheTerras
