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Tuesday 26 August 2003 Suburban League, Southern Division
Bracknell Town Reserves
2
-
0
AFC Wimbledon
Match report
The reserves lost their unbeaten record in a hard fought game against a well-organised Bracknell team. The Dons found it difficult to reproduce the flowing football played in their earlier league games on a hard, uneven pitch.
Having weathered the pressure with some solid defending, the Dons began to have more of the game with Andy Sullivan showing some good touches down the left hand side and Ally Russell winning a number of important balls in the air to set up attacks for the visitors. After 30 minutes the Dons had their best chance of the half, when Ryan Luffman's shot from the right was parried round the post by Bracknell's keeper. ln the space of a couple of minutes Tony Smith tipped over a dipping 25 yarder and then had the bar to thank when a free kick from almost the same distance hit the woodwork and bounced back into play. Just as it looked as though the Dons would reach half time on level terms, a controversial penalty was awarded two minutes before the break when the referee considered Mark Nicholas had upended the Bracknell forward as he broke into the box. The resulting spot kick gave Tony Smith no chance.
The second half began with Matt Martin making his Dons debut in goal in place of Smith. However, there was little goalmouth action at either end of the pitch as both midfields fought for supremacy. The tackling was at times fierce and eventually a high tackle by Luffman resulted in his name going in the referee's notebook. Martin, who showed good distribution, demonstrated his agility when he got down low to his left to hold a well struck shot. The Hill brothers came on as substitutes during the second half and contributed to the Dons' attempts to get back into the game. Prompted by Ben Chesters and Matt Hodge from midfield, the Dons now had their best spell of the game with Sullivan's left foot drive just going over the bar. Hodge having his header from a Chesters free kick cleared off the line with the keeper beaten and Chesters himself shooting just past the post. The referee made his second vital decision in the 86th minute. He failed to award the Dons a free kick as Towse almost had his shirt pulled from his back while he tussled for the ball. As play continued, a Bracknell player went down and the home team were awarded a free kick from just outside the area. Although the resulting kick was well saved by Martin, it fell at the feet of the Bracknell forward who steered the ball into the unguarded net from three yards.
