AFC Wimbledon back into League One bottom three – and with no chance of escaping it quickly
BY DAVE HUNT-JACKSON
Glyn Hodges suffered only his second defeat as AFC Wimbledon caretaker manager as a lacklustre performance saw them go down to a 1-0 defeat at Burton Albion.
In a week when they parted company with manager Wally Downes they remain in the League Two drop zone and will do for some time with no game on Saturday following Bury’s expulsion from the EFL.
The Dons were under siege for much of the first half and had already squandered a number of chances when hesitancy in the visitors defence let in David Templeton ,who fired wide when he should have put Burton in front.
The same player made no mistake just after the half hour mark when he fired past Nathan Trott to hand the Brewers a deserved lead which Ryan Edwards could have doubled had Trott not got a hand to his low effort and turned it past the post.
Wimbledon finally sprang into life on the stroke of half time with Tyrell Thomas’s excellent crossfield ball threatening to create a chance for Scott Wagstaff before a real scramble on the edge of Albion’s box just failed to find a Dons player.
The second half started like the first with both Liam Boyce and Nathan Broadhead missing excellent opportunities to add to the hosts’ lead.
Broadhead missed another sitter before in the 80th minute Wimbledon finally created a chance worthy of the name when substitute Kwesi Appiah diverted Nestor Guinness-Walker’s cross over the bar.
Hodges’ men did manage to raise the tempo somewhat in the final 10 minutes – and five of added time – but despite finally starting to get some dangerous crosses into the box they drew their first blank under their caretaker manager against the Midlands outfit who are fast becoming the Dons’ bogey team.
PICTURES BY SEAN GOSLING