Match report
The Dons racked up their fifth league win in a row with a victory over Mansfield Town that was far more comfortable than the narrow scoreline suggests. Brett Johnson’s fourth goal in six games with four minutes of normal time remaining denied the Stags the point they would have earned with their only meaningful shot on target.
With second or third place already confirmed, Terry Brown saw this as a game against a side that had played eight times in 21 days, could only finish in a mid-table position, and understandably had their eyes on their FA Trophy final at Wembley in two weeks’ time - in other words a chance to give a well-earned rest to some of his squad. Seb Brown’s chances of being ever-present this season were sacrificed to give the promising Jack Turner a rare start, Jamie Stuart stepped into the unwell Ismail Yakubu’s shoes, and Reece Jones made his first appearance in Wimbledon’s league side since Christmas, at the expense of Lee Minshull; Brendan Kiernan was on the bench. How would Terry’s mixing up of his squad affect his side’s chances of storming into the play-offs rather than stumbling into them on the back of three disappointing end-of-season results?
If the first 15 minutes were anything to go by, not at all. With a bit more luck the Dons could have been 3-0 up by the quarter-hour mark. With just three minutes gone, Kaid Mohamed got on the end of Steven Gregory’s searching pass and broke into the penalty area, but just as he shaped to shoot, Mansfield defender Foster brought him crashing to the ground for what looked like a nailed-on penalty. In his eagerness to score his first Dons goal at Kingsmeadow, Mohamed managed to get up and shoot, but keeper Neil Collett came out and blocked his effort. The crowd expected referee Knowles to pull play back and award the penalty, but instead the official waved play on.
The Dons didn’t let this perplexing decision get to them. Mohamed sped away from the Stags defence but miskicked with just the keeper to beat, and a minute later found himself in acres of space in the area but shot wide. Reece Jones then fired well wide from the edge of the area, and Danny Kedwell dragged his effort equally wide of the target when Sam Hatton put him through. The Dons were now attacking at will, and Mansfield seemed to have no answer. A rasping Hatton free-kick was tipped over by Collett, and then Mohamed and Rashid Yussuf exchanged passes on the edge of the six-yard box before defender Mark Preece blocked Yussuf’s final effort.
It seemed only a matter of time before the Dons took the lead as they carried through the previous four games’ fine form, but with 14 minutes gone it was the visitors who went ahead with their first foray into the Dons’ half. Adam Smith found his midfield colleague Tyrone Thompson in space 30 yards from the Dons goal, and as Jamie Stuart and Brett Johnson both surprisingly backed away, Thompson let fly with a low drive that beat Turner all ends up.
Wimbledon were visibly stung – Mansfield had done nothing but defend up to that point, but the out-of-the-blue goal seemed to dent the Dons’ confidence. Mohamed spurned another chance to shoot, and Luke Moore fired just wide from 20 yards, but other than those half-chances the remainder of the first half was a succession of Wimbledon attacks that snuffed themselves out.
The Stags noticeably tightened up at the back and were forcing the Dons sideways in search of openings, with Hatton and Gareth Gwillim more often than not the outlet balls. It wasn’t that the full-backs lacked the ability to get their crosses in, but Foster and Preece were getting their heads to the ball before Kedwell and Mohamed and clearing time after time. Referee Knowles flummoxed the home crowd when he refused to book two Stags players for kicking the ball away, but the fact that Wimbledon couldn’t make the breakthrough against a side they were dominating was the real reason for the frustration on the terraces.
The second half promised more of the same, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It differed from the first half in that the visitors failed to muster a shot on target, and the Dons made their continued dominance count – eventually. Ten minutes in, after some neat interplay and promising passing moves had come to nothing, Jamie Stuart came within an inch of opening his Wimbledon account, but his header from a Gwillim corner struck the post and was belted to safety by Adam Murray. Yussuff’s back-post header then set up Kedwell with a chance to bring the Dons level, but Gary Silk cleared from under the bar, then sub James Mulley forced Foster into a panicked clearance that was met with another hasty clearance into touch.
Christian Jolley worked himself into a good position before putting Kedwell in behind the Stags defence, but Preece got his foot in the way and the ball went out for a corner. From Hatton’s inswinger, Stuart thundered into it and netted with what appeared to be a combination of his left elbow and backside to put the Dons on level terms. It was the least they deserved, but with Luton’s next two opponents being the already-relegated bottom two, only a Wimbledon win would all but guarantee second place behind Crawley.
Lee Minshull was then thrown into the fray in place of Yussuff. Within 30 seconds he had a 20-yard volley blocked by a Mansfield defender as the Dons went in search of the winner, and from then on he seemed to be involved in every move as the Stags worked like Trojans to maintain their point. Jolley had a header cleared from under the bar as the Dons appealed for a goal and went for the jugular.
It seemed as though Mansfield would manage to hold out for a draw as a succession of crosses from Hatton, Jolley and Gwillim were repelled. But then, with 8 minutes remaining, Jolley found space on the edge of the box, took aim and fired and, via a wicked deflection off Brett Johnson, found the bottom corner of Collett’s net. Jolley and Johnson both seemed to be claiming the goal, but it was the defender’s touch that took the already goal-bound shot across the line.
There was still time for Stuart to strike the bar with another header and for Minshull to flatten Foster with a bone-jarring challenge that delighted the Dons faithful, but the points were in the bag – and second place a little closer. |
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