Talking points from AFC Wimbledon’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle – Bugiel a handful for Premier League defenders as penalty decision ruins EFL Cup tie

AFC Wimbledon finally returned to action on Tuesday night with the rearranged and switched EFL Cup third round tie at St James’ Park.

It was their first game since the draw at Bradford on September 21 and the first since flood damage put the Plough Lane pitch out of service for the foreseeable future.

The Dons are three games behind many of their League Two rivals but will have been grateful for the generosity of their hosts and the EFL for accommodating the fixture and the financial rewards from a crowd of more than 61.000.

In the end that home advantage and the three-division gap between the clubs told, but only just.

A first-half Fabian Schar penalty was the only difference between the visitors and their illustrious hosts as the Dons produced an outstanding defensive performance that just came up a fraction short.

Here are Dave Hunt-Jackson’s talking points from the tie.

BUGIEL IS A HANDFUL WHOEVER THE OPPOSITION

It was always going to be a tough assignment for Omar Bugiel and his strike partner Joe Pigott with the Premier League side enjoying so much of the possession. Despite this when the Dons did manage to make their rare forays into the Tynesiders’ half the big number nine was more than a match for the top flight outfit’s defenders.

Bugiel won more than his share of 50-50 battles and when he lost out it was, more often than not,  due to an infringement by his opponent.

Bugiel was the Dons’ top scorer last season with 13 goals. If he can remain injury-free he will surely better that target this term.

He is quite clearly Johnnie Jackson’s first choice frontman and rightly so. More than perhaps any other Wimbledon player since his arrival in the summer of 2023, the big striker always gives 100 per cent game after game and seemingly never has an off day.

The trick will be to manage his minutes. It was a worrying sign that despite signalling to the bench that he was struggling, his manager refused to withdraw him – even though he was so obviously out on his feet.

ANOTHER FINE DEFENSIVE DISPLAY

Against the pace and guile of a side sitting just outside the Champions League places in the top flight, Wimbledon were always going to have their work cut out but they defended heroically with Joe Lewis, captain on the night, absolutely outstanding.

To hold a side with the attacking flair of Newcastle to just a dubious penalty was no small achievement. It was the same as defending Premier League champions Manchester City had managed at the weekend.

Despite the absence of normal skipper Jake Reeves and vice-captain Ryan Johnson, Lewis marshalled his troops so well that for long periods Newcastle resorted to taking potshots from outside the area.

When they did get into the Wimbledon box they were met with heroic blocks and, so good were the back five, that keeper Owen had relatively little to do.

It is this defending that has been the bedrock of the impressive start to the campaign with the homegrown duo of Isaac Ogundere and Hus Biler again showing that they are improving with every game. Surely Biler must start on Saturday after this display?

TIME FOR A CHANGE ON THE LEFT

It was around this time last season that James Tilley’s impressive start to the season began to come off the rails. In the year that has followed he has never recaptured that sparkling form. He has yet to score this season, missed two gilt-edged chances against Bradford and made no impact either going forward or in defence on Tuesday.

Gone are the runs at the opposition defence. Against Newcastle he did not once try to beat a defender, invariably passing the ball straight back, and he failed to deliver a single meaningful cross.

The Dons are not short of alternatives, even more so with the return to fitness of Aaron Sasu.

Their front four need service and wingers who can attack and draw defenders out of position. Whether due to lack of confidence or form – or both – Tilley is not delivering and it is time to try something different.

OFFICIALS SPOIL GAME

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe described the tie as forgettable and he can blame his captain – aided and abetted by the officials – for that.

After Schar had blatantly dived in the penalty area, Miguel Almiron went down under a challenge from Joe Pigott and despite the referee, who had a clear view, seeing nothing wrong with the challenge, he eventually gave a spot-kick on the advice of his assistant.

Howe acknowledged that the first incident wasn’t a foul and had the referee done his job he would have booked Schar and awarded a free-kick – so the second challenge, foul or not, would have been irrelevant.

Aside from robbing Wimbledon of parity at half-time, it deprived the crowd of what could have been a great second half with Newcastle striving to avoid a penalty shootout. Instead they resorted to slowing the game down and cancelling out any threat that their visitors might have posed.

A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER

Running a top Premier League side so close away from home – without two key players – can surely have done nothing but boost the South Londoners’ belief ahead of their return to league action tomorrow.

Still 11th – and with up to three games in hand over most of the division – they go to Salford in great shape.

Assuming Bugiel is none the worse for his 90 minutes and with a trio of strikers – along with Sasu vying to partner him up front – they will have high hopes of avoiding a third consecutive stalemate as they venture north again.