Four takeaways from AFC Wimbledon’s 3-2 derby defeat at Charlton Athletic

AFC Wimbledon’s winless run extended to 10 League One matches as they were defeated 3-2 by Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon.

Ethan Chislett gave the Dons the perfect start before Ryan Inniss equalised for the Addicks. Conor Washington raced through to put the hosts in front for the first time but Ben Heneghan’s header just before half time sent the sides in level.

Akin Famewo’s first ever career goal gave Charlton all three points and left Mark Robinson’s side empty handed.

Here’s Kai Bennett’s four takeaways for the game between the two South London clubs.

SAM COSGROVE’S DEBUT

The Birmingham City loanee made the move to Plough Lane on deadline day. He had been on loan at Shrewsbury Town where he scored two goals in 17 appearances for the Shrews.

Cosgrove linked up with well with Jack Rudoni, in particular, with the youngster often using the frontman to play off before getting a strike off.

The 25-year-old was a physical presence in his first game and was the Dons’ focal point when they tried to turn defence into attack.

Head coach Robinson said that once Cosgrove was replaced in the 67th minute, Wimbledon became “predictable” and added that they “had a bit of a mixture to our play and carried a threat” when he was on the pitch.

CORNER-STONE OF DEFEAT

Two of Charlton’s three goals came from corners and the clever movement of Ryan Inniss.

For the first goal, Inniss made a blindside move to the back post before sprinting to the front post to glance his header home past Nik Tzanev.

The winner came from another corner, this time Inniss’s run took two Wimbledon defenders out of the game and Akin Famewo was able to meet the Albie Morgan’s delivery to seal all three points.

Wimbledon’s vulnerability from set-pieces was there for all to ses and on another day the Addicks could have scored even more from these restarts.

CAUGHT OFFSIDE

There were numerous times in the game where the Dons looked to have carved out a good chance only for the assistant referee’s flag to go up for offside.

Wimbledon were caught offside six times in the match compared to Charlton’s zero.

If Mark Robinson’s side had been able to time these runs better they had dangerous looking counter-attacks on the go.They just didn’t time them well enough.

TEN GAMES WITHOUT A WIN

AFC Wimbledon have failed to win since December 7, when they beat Accrington Stanley 2-0 away from home, with Ayoub Assal and Luke McCormick scoring the goals.

The Dons have drawn six of the games which makes that sequence not quite as bleak as it could have been.

Robinson feels his side are mostly competitive in games and it is “small margins” that cost his team.

If they can get on the other side of these margins they will be able to steer well clear of the relegation zone.

PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS