Dons not at the races against Sutton United…they need loss to be catalyst for big performance at Colchester

While Boxing Day is synonymous with horse racing up and down the country, AFC Wimbledon never made it out of the stables in their
1-0 defeat at home to Sutton United.

In a game with little quality, few moments of magic and a lot of gamesmanship it was the visitors, fighting for their lives at the bottom of League Two, who showed more determination to walk away with all three points in a feisty derby.

The first half went by without Wimbledon being able to make a dent against a side looking for their first away win of the 2023-24 League Two season.
It was the visitors who went in at half-time the happier of the two sides.

Alex Bass was called into action on a handful of occasions to keep the scoreline level, pulling off a sensational double stop – with a Jack Currie interception on the line in between – to deny Sutton the opener.

The Sunderland loanee pulled off a string of saves during the 2-1 win over Crawley to earn the Dons all three points and he showed his worth once again with his first-half performance against the U’s.

James Tilley and Josh Neufville came back into the starting line-up as Jackson, who was watching on from the directors’ box after being sent off during the Crawley win, looked to rotate his side with three games in the space of a week – but the duo were unable to impact the game.

Tilley, who had an explosive start to life at Plough Lane, tested keeper Dean Bouzanis early on in the second half, but Wimbledon fell into Sutton’s trap of allowing it to become a scrappy contest.

They took the lead in the 62nd minute when Ryan Johnson launched the ball into the box for Omar Sowunmi to bundle into the back of the net.

Wimbledon looked to go toe-to-toe with Sutton in terms of physicality, with Josh Davison, Harry Pell and Paul Kalambayi coming on, but the game petered out without Wimbledon creating enough to deserve anything from the game.

Ali Al-Hamadi was limited to few chances and Jake Reeves and Armani Little were left searching for options constantly in the middle of the park – it felt starkly similar to the 1-0 defeat to Sutton in October last season.

That game turned out to be the catalyst for a 10-game unbeaten run last campaign, and with Jackson’s side hosting Colchester tonight and heading to Forest Green on New Year’s Day – two fixtures Wimbledon will be predicted to win due to their position in the table – there has to be a reaction if they are going to head into the second half of the season with real conviction.

January is set to be a tough month for Jackson’s side.

They will have to cope without Al-Hamadi for a large chunk of January as he heads to Qatar with the Iraqi national side for the 2024 Asia Cup.

There will also be the cloud looming over whether loanees Bass, Joe Lewis and Connor Lemmonheigh-Evans will be recalled by their parent clubs.

Teams higher up the football pyramid will also be circling around Jack Currie once again after his impressive start to the campaign.

What is clear is that there is a strong squad at Wimbledon with two players vying for every position, but they will have to learn from past mistakes – the sale of Ollie Palmer and Ayoub Assal in recent January windows – to ensure there is a chance of finishing in the play-off spots.

STAR MAN
Alex Bass. Made a handful of top saves to keep Wimbledon in the game at 0-0.

BEST MOMENT
Bass’ double save in the first half.

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD