Accrington Stanley boss Coleman: Dons absolutely battered us for final 30 minutes

Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman praised AFC Wimbledon for their display and in particular midfield duo Alex Woodyard and George Dobson.

The Dons ran riot at the Crown Ground on Saturday as they ran out 5-1 winners.

Michael Nottingham had put Accrington ahead. However an Ollie Palmer brace and Ayoub Assal’s goal on the stroke of half time, turned the game on it’s head. In the second half Joe Pigott added a fourth before Ayoub Assal’s second of the afternoon put the cherry on top for the Dons.

Coleman told Accrington’s official website: “We should’ve proceeded with the game better. We let them back into the game cheaply. People will label us as playing poorly, but I think that would be doing Wimbledon a disservice.

“In the second half, we came out bright, but after they got their fourth they absolutely battered us for the last half an hour. They were good value for it, they were all over us. They were good in midfield, [Alex] Woodyard and [George] Dobson did really well and they’ve had their day.

“Toby [Savin] hasn’t made that many saves today. They were clinical and what summed [the game] up was the fifth goal, he never looked like he was going to miss, where as we get a clean breakaway and you never think we’re going to score and you have those days.

“We didn’t defend properly all over the pitch. We didn’t pick up the second balls and they had their tails up after their third goal. The fourth goal was like getting a fire extinguisher and putting it over us, that was the end of it.

“Their first three goals were pathetic from our point of view.

“We looked a little bit brittle, which was alarming. We let Wimbledon run through us time and time again. A lot of it was down to us not winning the second ball. I have to give their midfielders every credit for that as they were very good at that today.

“Sometimes you just have to say well done to the opposition, their league position suggests they haven’t done that too many times this season, but they did it today and you can only judge them on today and they didn’t look like a relegation side.

“All credit to their manager [Mark Robinson], I think it’s the first time he’s played Ollie [Palmer] and Joe [Pigott] together. It paid off for them today. It pays off if you score and you take your chances.

“I’ve been in this game long enough to know some days aren’t your days. Some days are your day and we have to keep going and hope that is our day, the next time we play.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD