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This season Wimbledon, in the First Division, have failed to attract anywhere near 1,000 home supporters to a match - they are still at Selhurst Park - whilst AFC Wimbledon, a Club formed by breakway supporters have had crowds of nearly 4,500 fdor their matches in the Combined Counties League.
Consequently you can expect a small away following at Roots Hall this evening, but my no means will United have an easy match, Wimbledon have got off to a decent start in Division One, and only a Leicester City comeback on Saturday - Wimbledon were two-nil up thanks to two early goals - prevented another League victory.
Southend may well have a bit of inside information on their opponents however, not only did we meet in a pre-season friendly at Boots & Laces, United losing 2-1 despite a Greame Jones goal, but Neil Jenkins was released by the Dons only last summer and midfielder Ian Selley is on loan from Wimbledon. Indeed Selley, who has been suffering from an injured foot, was due to return to action tonight but Wimbledon haven't allowed him to play.
One loanee that will be playing this evening however is Jay Smith, having been given permission by Aston Villa. Smith will definately feature tonight but manager Rob Newman has said that he may make some changes this evening and it seems likely that Jones, who missed a penalty at Rushden on Saturday, may find himself on the bench. Newman has named the same squad as the one that travelled to Rushden on Saturday.
Please note that the West Stand will not be oppen tonight and that this evening's match programme will be a reduced version, 32 pages priced at £1.50.
Last Matches:-
Rushden & Diamonds 3 (Gray 9 (pen), 33, Hall 83) Southend United 0, Line-up - Flahavan, Beard (Belgrave 74), Searle, Broad (Whelan 74), Cort, Maher, Smith, Bramble, Jenkins (Steven Clark 56), Jones, Rawle. Unused - Maye, Gay.
Wimbledon 2 (Williams 11, Shipperley 16) Leicester City 3 (Benjamin 44, Izzett 45 (pen), Stewart 81), Line-up - Davis, Hawkins, Williams, Leigertwood (Ainsworth 79), Gier, Darlington, Tap, McAnuff, Francis, Shipperley, Gray (Nowland 83). Unused - Willmott, Reo-Coker, Heald.
Last Five Meetings:-
3rd November, 1980 - Southend United 1 (Spence) Wimbledon 0 - Division Four
7th October, 1980 - Wimbledon 0 Southend United 1 (Spence) - Division Four
29th December, 1979 - Southend United 1 (Polycarpou) Wimbledon 3 - Division Three
25th August, 1979 - Wimbledon 0 Southend United 1 (Morris) - Division Three
15th August, 1978 - Wimbledon 4 Southend United 1 (Donaldson og) - League Cup, 1st Round, 2nd Leg (agg 2-4)
SOUTHEND (from):- Darryl Flahavan, Daniel Gay, Mark Beard, Neil Jenkins, Damon Searle, Leon Cort, Stephen Broad, Tom Jordan, Phil Whelan, Kevin Maher, Jay Smith, Stuart Thurgood, Steven Clark, Danny Maye, Tesfaye Bramble, Graeme Jones, Mark Rawle, Barrington Belgrave.
Mark Wallis
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