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Saturday 19 November 2005 Suburban League, Southern Division
The reserves succumbed to a second successive defeat against a team from the lower end of the league when losing to the odd goal of three despite playing the entire second half with 10 men. Football action in the first half was a non event with Walton playing the offside trap and the Dons' forwards repeatedly falling into it. At the other end Danny Wheeler was not required to make a single save as the home defence looked sound.
What action did take place centred on the referee who maintained his record of sending off a Wimbledon player each time he has officiated a reserve game. Having booked Mark King after 15 minutes he seemed to to be looking out for the player as he pulled the forward up nearly every time he made any physical challenge. A minute before half time King chased a long through ball and although he didn't make contact with Chris Nelson, who came out to collect it, the reaction of the keeper gave the official the opportunity to wave the yellow and red cards.
Matters got worse for the Dons early in the second half when the visitors scored twice in the space of 3 minutes. A mix up between Simon Bassey and Wheeler from a harmless cross let in Jack Horsfall and although Wheeler did well to block the first effort he had no chance as the rebound went back to Horsfall who shot past the helpless goalkeeper. Before they could recover the Dons fell further behind when the ball was played into their penalty area and fell invitingly for Kris Sedgewick who shot powerfully home.
Facing an uphill task John Morris immediately introduced his first substitute, Tom Jelley, and within 4 minutes his run down the right and hard hit cross found Niall Connery who netted from close range. The tempo of the game changed as the Dons went for the equaliser and a number of chances were created as they dominated possession and territorial advantage. The closest they came to pulling level happened when Amo Kouman beat the offside trap and his lob sailed over Nelson but fell agonisingly inches the wrong side of the post.
A disappointing and frustrating day ended when assistant manager, Dave Wager was sent from the dug out for allegedly arguing with the opposition's bench although the referee was some distance from the alleged incident and had misinterpreted what had occurred.
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