Due to the League Cup, the 28th round of English League Two originally scheduled for the same day, February 2, had to be postponed.
As for when it will be postponed, it depends on the overall scheduling of the English Football Association and also refers to the schedule of their opponent Morecambe.
Five days later, on February 7, Wimbledon welcomed their opponent in the 29th round of the league, Newport, ranked 7th in the standings, at home.
Li Polo still has some vague impression of this opponent, but goalkeeper Xie A is even more reluctant to recall:
Because their first loss of the season was the first round match against Newport!
In that game, Li Polo, who started the game, played the full 90 minutes and scored a goal, but due to Shea's reckless foul, which directly resulted in a "red card + penalty kick", Wimbledon, who were one man short, played extremely passively and finally lost to their opponent 2:4.
But this time it's completely different!
The Crazy Gang, determined to avenge themselves, has been reborn after experiencing a series of confrontations with high-level giants. In addition, with the advantage of playing at home, they almost beat Newport without any chance of fighting back!
Akinfenwa, who had rested for more than a week, broke out completely and directly broke through the opponent's dense defense with a hat trick!
In order to limit his performance, Newport defender Kevin Feeley, who once played for the Wildcats, was sent off in the 56th minute, which made Newport completely give up hope of a comeback!
With the team's morale low, no one was in the mood to mark a defender, and Li Polo took advantage of the chaos to score a header, locking the score at 4:0!
Speaking of which, Li Polo, who had not scored in the previous three games, broke his 300-minute "goal drought" and increased his personal goal tally in the league to 11 goals.
As Akinfenwa scored three goals in this game, he successfully overtook Li Polo and ranked second only to Dubis who scored 14 goals in the team's English League Two scorer list.
If we look at the entire English League Two, the player with the most goals is Northampton's Marco Richards with 15 goals, followed by Dubis and Plymouth's Reuben Reid with one goal difference. Shrewsbury's Collins is third with 13 goals, Akinfenwa is fourth with 12 goals, and Lee Polo can only be ranked fifth with 11 goals. However, there are at least five or six other players who have scored 11 goals...
This is the chaotic situation of the English League Two. Moreover, due to the high player mobility in the lower-level leagues, many players who performed well in the first half of the season are often recalled by their home teams after January, or join higher-level teams, and their goal records naturally stagnate.
In fact, Dubis' home team Bournemouth issued a recall order to him, but considering that his personal ability was not enough to gain a foothold in the Championship League, he simply rejected the recall order and continued to stay in the English League Two.
…
There are only 28 days in February, but Wimbledon has 7 matches, which means one match every 4 days. You can imagine how intensive it is.
There are three knockout cup matches and a crucial battle for the league title - in the 30th round of the league, they will challenge Burton, who are ranked second in the standings!
February 10, 10 a.m.
Li Polo and his teammates boarded a bus heading north.
After driving more than 300 kilometers, they arrived at the visiting team's stadium, the Pirelli Stadium, on the banks of the River Trent in Staffordshire.
This professional football stadium, named after the famous Italian tire brand, is only slightly more luxurious than the King's Meadow. It can accommodate 6,912 spectators, of which only 2,034 are seats and the rest are standing seats. Although after the Hillsborough disaster in the last century, the British government and the English Football Association forced the cancellation of all standing seats in the first and second tier leagues, standing seats are still retained in lower-level stadiums and are even more popular than seats.
After all...the maintenance cost of a standing agent is definitely much lower than that of a seated agent!
As they have played one less league game, Wimbledon's lead in the standings is now 8 points, which seems very unsafe, so the Wimbledon team from top to bottom attaches great importance to this "championship focus battle".
After all, Burton has been eliminated from all cup competitions. They only need to focus on the English League Two and do not need to consider rotation issues. Compared with Wimbledon, their physical reserves are much more sufficient.
This focus battle was calm at the beginning. Although both sides attacked and defended, neither side created many scoring opportunities.
There were indeed many free kicks and corner kicks, but Burton's defensive players always lingered on Li Polo like sticky candy, making it impossible for him to jump and compete comfortably.
Akinfenwa, who scored a hat-trick in the last game, seemed to have entered the sage mode of having no desires. He played without any passion in this game. Although Dubis succeeded in offside several times, his teammates' passes were always a little lacking and could not match his running rhythm. In the end, they were all resolved by the goalkeeper without exception.
In the 65th minute, a scene that changed the situation appeared:
Burton's midfielder made a straight pass, avoiding Lee Boluo's defensive area and sending the ball to Phillips' side!
Philip, the captain on the field, suddenly became anxious. He shot at the front of the penalty area and knocked down the home team's ace shooter Akins who had successfully countered offside. He was directly shown a red card by the referee!
Xie A, who had already blocked the angle, kicked the door post in anger!
【What are you afraid of by letting him in? 】
[Let me show you my goal-line save technique! ]
Li Polo, who was five meters away, couldn't help but shook his head:
"Is Burton specifically targeting us? Does he get a red card in every game?"
While cursing, Adre replaced the less excited Akinfenwa with Goodman, replaced Moore who had not yet integrated into the tactics with Sweeney, and pushed Li Polo to the midfield position.
Just now, the opponent made a through ball, but Moore failed to defend in time!
In the absence of one person, Li Polo's intercepting ability will undoubtedly play a greater role!
Before leaving the field, Phillips originally wanted to give the captain's armband to Moore, but when he saw that the latter was also substituted, he had to put it into Li Polo's hands.
Captain and vice-captain Fuller and Smith are both in the hospital recovering from injuries, and the qualifications of the other teammates are basically the same. As for the captain's armband... I really don't know who to give it to.
Adre, who was busy adjusting tactics, had no time to care about such a small matter. After he replaced the players, he found that Li Polo had already put the armband on his arm.
The head coach couldn't help but roll his eyes and couldn't help but complain:
"You should give it to Rigg or Potter!"
Cox quickly came to the rescue of his favorite player:
"How about I ask him to change it back?"
Adley waved his hand:
"It doesn't matter. It's not important at all."
Wearing the armband, Li Polo was full of vigor and vitality:
"Guys, from now on, listen to my command!"
Rigg, Porter, Francon, Dubis:
“…”
He just gave orders without hesitation:
"Porter, you are responsible for organizing the middle and try to pass the ball to the sides as quickly as possible. Rigg and Frankon, you will make high passes from the sides. Dubis, you will create space for me, and I will be responsible for completing the final shot!"
Rigg, Porter, Francon, Dubis:
"...Why don't you just say the fourth offensive tactic?"
Li Polo straightened his chest and answered without blushing:
"Don't talk back to the captain, just move now!"
[Negative emotions from Sean Rigg, +1]
[Frankon, +1]
[Porter, +2]
[Dubis, +2]
[Adre, +2! ]
Li Polo was stunned for a moment, then cautiously turned his head to look at the head coach on the sidelines.
Adley stared at him expressionlessly, even raising his chin.
Li Polo thought optimistically:
[This must be a compliment to me for being able to quickly stabilize the morale of the troops! ]
[I can't let the head coach down! ]
So he pulled himself together and led the team in a charge toward Burton to win.
Finally, 15 minutes after Phillips was sent off with a red card, Wimbledon, after many attempts, finally succeeded in launching their fourth offensive tactic!
Rigg's pass accurately bypassed Burton's central defender and found Lee Polo who was lurking behind Dubis.
The captain who was appointed in a critical moment accepted the gift from his teammates without hesitation!
“Whoosh!”
1:0!
Li Polo scored the winning goal in the 81st minute!