AFC Wimbledon should forget Grimsby Town dress rehearsal - Johnnie Jackson has his job to save first | OneFootball

Dons boss Jackson might have a lot more riding on the upcoming Grimsby clash than just a spot in the League Two playoffs

What was once looking like such a promising and successful season for AFC Wimbledon has rather petered out in the last few weeks.

Going from looking like comfortable automatic promotion chasers, to going to a side that now need a positive, points-gaining result on the final day to stumble into the play-offs, things just have not worked out how many expected them to for Johnnie Jackson's side.

And now the former Charlton boss could be adding AFC Wimbledon to the list of former employers, as failure to make it into the play-offs could mean that his time at Wimbledon is up after three seasons with the side.

Grimsby Town match could see Johnnie Jackson's job on the line

As Wimbledon's form has risen and fallen in this second half of the season, it has been looking more and more likely that this final matchday match-up between the Dons and the Mariners would be, at the very least, a warm-up match for both teams' play-off campaigns.

But the club from South West London have only won three times since the start of March, a run which comprises 13 games. And before that, since October in fact, Wimbledon have always been in the top seven places in League Two, constantly floating between simply being play-off contenders, and then more hardy opponents for those chasing automatic spots and even the title following Walsall's very worrying collapse since the end of the winter transfer window.

So now, with the real possibility that results elsewhere, combined with a loss away at Blundell Park, could mean that Jackson and his team miss out on the play-offs entirely, and there is every chance that, ironically, in a place known for its fishing, the Dons' boss could be given the hook.

A lot of head-scratching has been going on among Wimbledon supporters for the past few weeks about how on earth things have got this bad, with the consensus being that Jackson and his tactics have simply been found out.

For so much of this season, the system Jackson implemented saw his attacking wing-backs become a very effective threat to all opposition defences down each flank, and his gate-crashing midfielders, alongside star-striker Matty Stevens, become consistent goalscorers in the box.

However, as opposition managers so often do, and have done this season by doing their homework, they figure out ways to eventually stop these biggest threats, which in turn has rather stifled Wimbledon. And that has meant that, despite scoring 17 goals this campaign, top scorer Stevens has only scored four times since the end of January, and Wimbledon have not actually scored heaps of goals themselves from elsewhere in the team either.

In turn, this has meant that form has taken a nosedive, as already mentioned, and piles pressure onto Jackson, who had fans believing at the start of this season that promotion was a real possibility.

It is a third season of progression up the table under the former Tottenham Hotspur player, but with this disappointing collapse that has seen a team so likely to be a promotion contender, to possibly not being one at all, there are going to be questions asked as to whether Jackson can get Wimbledon over that final hurdle.

It is not all doom and gloom with this match though, however dreary some fans may feel, as on the face of it, it gives Wimbledon an excellent chance to have a dress rehearsal against a potential final opponent.

If a draw were to happen on Saturday, and other results go in favour of both the Dons and Grimsby, then that would leave Wimbledon in sixth with Grimsby crawling into that final spot in seventh. With how the play-offs work, this would see Grimsby play the team who finish in fourth, likely to be Walsall, and Wimbledon playing the team in fifth, likely to be Notts County at the time of writing.

Therefore, meaning if all went well for both sides in their respective play-off semi-finals, they could be playing each other again in the final.

So, their clash on the final day offers both a practice match, of sorts, to potentially try something new out to get the better of the other, or simply to get an up-to-date reading on what each do best and what needs stopping in any potential final clash.

And even if the two don't face each other in the play-offs, a positive result for Wimbledon not only saves their manager's job, for now, it gives the team a bit of a boost, which will be much-needed following such a poor run, of not only form, but performance on the pitch.

Over the past two games, the Dons have mustered only one shot on target, so an attacking display complete with goals against Grimsby would definitely give the players a shot of confidence that they can indeed attack and score goals.

But ultimately that will come down to how Johnnie Jackson has his team set up on Saturday, and in reality, if he does not get it right, that will heap pressure onto his shoulders and could see his job at Wimbledon slip from under him, ending his time at Wimbledon without seeing his ultimate goal through.