I wrote the following on Tuesday afternoon, then realised that I'd forgotten about the prestigious London Senior Cup game against Hendon that was due to take place that evening, which had the potential to change my thinking about the possible line-up for the Mansfield game. Which it did, but rather than re-write the whole post before publishing it, I've decided to leave it as is but add some extra notes at the bottom.
With the news that St. Terry will rotate his squad over the bank holiday weekend, and that advance terrace tickets for the Mansfield game will only be a tenner, it is safe to assume that the team appearing in yellow and blue won't be the strongest one available.
But that's a good thing for lots of people, such as bloggers who can write many words on the possible permutations available to TB and how we've now got a very strong squad indeed. But more important even than bloggers (is that possible?), it's good news for the players who might otherwise not have had a chance to show what they can do ahead of the play-offs.
The main battle is for midfield places. Not so long ago, the thought of entering the playoffs without any of Christian Jolley, James Mulley, and Rashid Yussuff in the starting eleven would have been unthinkable, but the injury to Christian, the suspension of Mulley, the return of in-form Wellard and fit-again Minshull, as well as the signing of the lively Mo mean that those three face an uphill struggle to start the first play-off game.
As well as the Jolley/Mulley/Toks combo (which makes for a very decent midfield already), I'd expect to see Reece Jones give a start against Mansfield. He looked very good after coming on at half-time against ten-man Eastbourne, so after limited (i.e. no) opportunities since then, he will be keen to show he can perform against better opposition.
Elsewhere, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ryan Jackson get a start at right-back, playing behind another man with a point to prove - Kirk Hudson. Ryan's form has dipped since the heady early days of the season when he was a regular in the starting eleven, so he'll be keen to avoid becoming the forgotten man of this season's campaign. As for Hudson, I'll try to be positive. He might just be given enough time and space to show what a good right foot he has, and he might just link up well with an overlapping Jackson. And that's about as much positivity as I can muster for the useless twat.
Up front, I expect Nokkers to be given a start, and at the back I would expect to see the growling, grimacing face of Jamie Stuart beside whichever of Johnson and Yakubu has less need of a rest. It won't matter to the massively competitive Stuart that this is, on paper, a meaningless game between a team guaranteed a top-three finish, and a team guaranteed a mid-table finish.
The only positions where there doesn't seem to be meaningful competition are left-back and goalkeeper. If Gwillim does get injured or suffer a massive loss of form, Brett Johnson can cover at left back, leaving Stuart and Yaks in the middle. And while TB may give Jack Turner a run-out, he'll only feature in the play-offs if Seb gets injured.
So my starting eleven would be:
Brown (sub Turner 45); Gwillim, Johnson, Stuart, Jackson; Jolley, Mulley, Yussuff, Jones, Hudson; Nwokeji.
It's an attacking line-up, so there is an argument for putting Minshull in as holding midfielder at the expense of Reece Jones. Either way, I could see both of them playing some part in the game, very possibly with one replacing the other.
I should probably write something about Mansfield, but to be honest, the fact that they're destined/doomed to finish in mid-table is all we need to know. They may have an inkling of a revenge mission after the 5-2 stuffing we dished out at their place back in October, but the story of this game will be the how the 'reserve' Dons take their chance to shine. It might not be the Dons' first choice eleven, but it's still a very good one and will be fully motivated. I predict goals. For a tenner, this match could be an absolute blinder.
Notes after LSC game:
Given that Ryan Jackson, Reece Jones, Kirk Hudson, and Mark Nwokeji all played at least 113 minutes on Tuesday, I don't expect them to start against Mansfield. Judging by comments on the Old Centrals board, none of them did themselves any favours with their performances either - the one player to come out of the game with any credit was Christian Jolley, previously picked out by TB as the man to give us an extra spark in the play-offs. As he only came on at half-time for Mulley, I'd still expect both of them to start tomorrow.
So my amended expected starting line-up now includes Minshull as holding midfielder, Mo on the right (interchangeable with Jolley on the left), Hatton at right-back, and Keds up front:
Brown; Hatton (sub Jackson), Stuart, Johnson, Gwillim; Minshull, Jolley (sub Hudson), Mulley, Toks, Mohamed; Kedwell (sub Nokkers)
I still predict goals - especially with Keds up front rather than Nokkers. (Cue drab nil-nil with a completely different Dons line-up to the one I've just predicted - which is just fine so long as no-one gets injured).
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