Four takeaways from AFC Wimbledon’s defeat at Sunderland – Assal is ‘go-to’ guy in attacking third
AFC Wimbledon dropped to 14th in the early League One standings after a 1-0 loss at Sunderland on Saturday.
Carl Winchester’s deflected 64th-minute shot earned the home team maximum points.
Here are Dave Hunt-Jackson’s four takeaways from the Stadium Of Light:
THE DONS ARE HAVING NO LUCK
Whether it is the run of the ball or poor officiating, Wimbledon have been very unlucky of late.
They could arguably be criticised for sitting back and allowing Gillingham the opportunity to get forward and take the shot that was deflected for that very late equaliser, but at Sunderland they were just plain unlucky.
A poor effort from Carl Winchester was going well wide only to hit one of his own players and deflect past a wrong-footed Nik Tzanev and into the net. Throw in the foul on Ayoub Assal that resulted in a booking for the Dons player when even Sunderland manager Lee Johnson acknowledged the correct outcome would have been a red card for Luke O’Nein and a penalty for the visitors and yet again the Dons found themselves robbed by their hosts.
There must be a clause in the rules of the game that means visitors to the Stadium of Light are not to be awarded penalties. It perhaps at least confirms the superstition that Black Cats are lucky.
AYOUB ASSAL IS THE NEW JOE PIGOTT
No-one is expecting the teenager to match last season’s top-scorer for goals, but Assal appears to be the go-to guy up front for the South Londoners. Until he departed after 78 minutes, Assal had played every minute of the League games this season. Just as “Pigs” was almost ever present last term, it looks like Mark Robinson will be placing similar reliance on the exciting attacking midfielder. With regular changes to his other forward and midfield options the Dons’ head coach seems to see the youngster as his most potent threat and he has been repaid with whole hearted displays on every occasion so far.
THE DONS ARE TOO HOT TO HANDLE
On Wednesday Gillingham picked up six yellow cards, including two for the dismissed David Tutonda, and Sunderland had a weak referee to thank for not at least matching that number. Assal is likely to be at or very near to the top of the stats for fouls committed against him but the other attacking players in the Wimbledon squad are also proving hard to stop by fair means. The 13 fouls committed by Sunderland is at best two thirds of the total infringements they actually committed and the Dons can expect opponents to see red regularly this season assuming they encounter better referees than Mr Oldham, who was clearly intimidated by a near 30,000-strong crowd.
HENRY LAWRENCE IS AN EXCEPTIONAL PROSPECT
Robinson was keen to stress in his post-match interview that he needs to rotate his young squad. He pointed out that many of his side have yet to experience mens’ football and he is anxious to avoid burn out. Chelsea loanee Lawrence, 19, is one such player but he will be hard to omit going on his performance at Sunderland. He is assured both in defence and going forward and crucially does not looked in any way overawed at the step up to first team football. Paul Kalambayi is three years older than Lawrence and has north of 50 starts for AFC Wimbledon, but there is little to choose between him and Lawrence for sheer presence on the pitch which is high praise for the younger man given the impressive levels that Kalambayi has now attained. If Robinson can maximise Lawrence’s game time whilst keeping him fresh and injury free then there will be yet more to come from this exciting prospect as he gathers experience.
PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS + KEITH GILLARD
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Was the author of this piece at the game? Admittedly we all have a leaning towards our team and while opinions differ, some of this is factually incorrect. Yes O’Nien, grabbed the Wimbledon player and delayed his run but it was well outside the box and the ref played advantage. Some refs might have seen it as a red card offence but watch the highlights and see that there is another defender covering. Yellow seemed the right decision, as was allowing the move to continue. Assal then committed the foul in the box after the ball had been cleared. How is that a penalty? Please direct me to Lee Johnson’s admission that it should have been. It’s a matter of opinion whether Gooch should have been booked for actually winning the ball, as it is whether Flannagan should have got a yellow after also playing the ball first. Wimbledon held their own, especially in the first half, but rarely threatened. Sunderland’s goal was a tad fortunate but as your own manager said, no one went to close Winchester down and he should never had been allowed to shoot from so far out. It was off target but was hit well enough that it was always going to be blocked or deflected if anyone was in the way. Enjoy your sour grapes.