Dons took a giant leap towards League One safety by toppling Oxford – but will Joe Pigott mirror Lyle Taylor in more ways than one?

BY DANIEL MARSH AT PLOUGH LANE

It feels quite fitting that Wimbledon won such a pivotal game on Tuesday night – a night that footballing treason was stampeded into submission by people power.

The Dons and Plough Lane are the perfect paradox to all of the things that were wrong with the mooted European Super League, an idea which truly was not in the wider interests of football.

It’s a scandal which has rocked football to the core at all levels. The national level of disgust was summed up quite aptly by Dons head coach Mark Robinson, who tweeted in the week: “Has it ever felt more important to support and work for a fan-owned club?”.

No-one will be happier that he does work for a fan-owned club right now than the Wimbledon faithful.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 success over Oxford United made it seven wins from 17 games under the stewardship of Robinson, who has transformed the mindset of the fragile team he inherited into a relentless one moulded in his image.

Despite a blinkered assessment from Oxford manager Karl Robinson, there can be few complaints about the schooling the Dons academy-based side gave their visitors in the second half, with a frenzied four-minute spell the catalyst for a fourth straight win.

It was a moment of madness which turned the game on its head, with James Henry seeing red for a deliberate handball in the box from a Wimbledon corner. Just like last week at Ipswich, eyes will be drawn towards the dismissal as the turning point, but the Dons had looked the brighter of the teams in the second half and would have been disappointed when Josh Ruffels’ effort almost apologetically trickled past Nik Tzanev against the run of play.

There was no doubting what the outcome would be once Joe Pigott stepped up to send Jack Stevens the wrong way from the spot. That’s 20 for the season now for the Dons talisman. He is the first Wimbledon player to reach that number since Lyle Taylor back in the 2015-16 promotion campaign.

Fans will hope for no more similarities between the two though, with Pigott’s deal set to expire in the summer with him in red-hot form – a scenario eerily similar to Taylor’s departure a few years back.

If this is to be Pigott’s last hurrah before departing SW19 in the summer when his terms expire, then he’s going out in style. As big as the revival has been under Robinson, the Dons would have been dead and buried a long time ago without Pigott’s goals this year.

Robinson has spoken often of building a culture, and a team, which wants to look forward rather than back. It’s something the club desperately need, after participating in yearly battles for survival since their arrival in the third tier. Perhaps that can be a new angle to try and persuade their talisman to stick around – it would be some coup if they could pull that off.

Two minutes after restoring parity, the turnaround was complete. Ollie Palmer, revitalised in recent weeks, perfectly teed up Alex Woodyard who lashed his strike beyond a helpless Stevens.

The Dons will hope that Palmer’s late withdrawal was nothing more than a knock, such has been his importance in this recent surge of good form, even if his replacement Ryan Longman had an excellent cameo showing from the bench.

For a team who have been so rampant over the past few weeks, this was a real gut-check for Wimbledon against the only team in League One who have notched more goals than them in April – especially after falling behind. The Dons passed this test with flying colours in the most impressive result of the winning run.

Robinson revealed last week that he had challenged his side to make small pieces of new history to move forward. His side did just that on Tuesday, as they had never previously won four consecutive league games since their promotion to League One. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s another small step forward.

No-one will admit it just yet, but toppling Oxford was a giant leap towards confirming Wimbledon’s third tier status next term, even with the majority of teams involved in the relegation battle picking up results.

As long as the Dons don’t lose their game in hand against 22nd-placed Rochdale next Tuesday, then you’d assume they’ll be fine.

But Robinson and this Wimbledon side don’t work on assumptions, and why should they? That relentless mindset has seen them accelerate towards survival, and it should help steer them through as they approach the final lap of the relegation battle.

STAR MAN
Nesta Guinness-Walker. A constant threat down the left with some outstanding runs and deliveries. Has really kicked on in his second season in league football.

BEST MOMENT
Another great breakaway goal. Ollie Palmer’s lay-off to Alex Woodyard was measured to perfection – the Dons skipper did the rest to seal a vital win.