Haringey Borough vs AFC Wimbledon Predictions

When they welcome League One’s AFC Wimbledon to Coles Park, a stadium capable of holding just 2,500 people, only 280 of which will be seated, on Friday night, Haringey Borough, who ply their trade in the Isthmian Premier Division, will be hoping to reach the second round of this famous competition for the first time ever. When they take to the pitch on Friday evening, it will be the first time that the club has tasted proper FA Cup action, though having made it this far, they won’t want their journey to end.

In terms of recent form, the hosts have been struggling a bit at their own level. After beating Poole in the final qualifying round of this competition, the Borough lost away to Corinthian-Casuals, while they’ve since exited the FA Trophy having lost to Chesham United on penalties. Last time out, Friday’s hosts drew 2-2 away at Enfield Town, so they are now without a win in four in all competitions, though such form is likely to have little effect on their mood ahead of this huge occasion.

As far as Wimbledon are concerned, well, the visitors are floundering in League One. Neal Ardley’s men have lost each of their last seven league games, while they’ve scored just two goals during that time. Fortunately, the Dons regained some confidence by thrashing League Two’s Stevenage (4-0) in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night, so they ought to fancy their chances ahead of this match against non-league opposition.

In recent years, the Dons haven’t faced too many non-league sides in this competition, though they were knocked out by National League Sutton United in 2017, while they also failed to beat York City away in 2014. That said, they did score four on their way to victory away against Curzon Ashton, who play at the level above Haringey, just under two years ago.

Despite not having the most sparkling recent record (albeit from a limited sample size) against lower-level teams in recent years, this is a match that Wimbledon should be winning, and winning comfortably at that. They are going up against a home team that will be anything but lacking in motivation, while playing away from home makes things that bit tougher, but the League One side ought to have more than enough quality to come through.

From a betting point of view, the selection that stands out is ‘Wimbledon to Score Over 2.5 Goals’. The visitors haven’t exactly been flourishing offensively in League One, but they took advantage of facing League Two opponents by scoring four on Tuesday, while they’re going up against a defence that has been struggling to keep teams out four divisions below.

Haringey, as well as they’ve done to get this far, and as motivated as they will be, may just lack the quality to keep League One opponents at bay. The hosts have conceded in each of their last nine matches, while they’ve conceded at least twice in seven of those. Such as defensive record against teams at their own level doesn’t exactly bode well.