The lowdown on AFC Wimbledon 2 Barrow 2 – Dons throw away two-goal lead in final 10 minutes as they falter in League Two promotion race

AFC Wimbledon squandered a two-goal lead in the final eight minutes of their League Two contest against Barrow as they fell to a 2-2 draw at Plough Lane, courtesy of a 96th-minute equaliser from ex-Millwall player Conor Mahoney.

Here is Mitchell Hall’s lowdown from the match.

THE LINE-UPS

AFC Wimbledon: Goodman, Johnson, Lewis. Hutchinson (Ogundere 81), Tilley (Furlong 81), Reeves, Maycock, Smith, Neufville, Browne (Kelly 81), Stevens. Subs not used: Ward, Foyo, Harbottle, Sasu.

Barrow: Farman, Cameron, Canavan, Foley, Newby, Gotts (Mahoney 81), Spence (Fletcher 81), Jackson, Smith (Acquah 81), Whitfield (Campbell 65), Pressley. Subs not used: Stanway, Tensia.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

It was a dreary first half as Wimbledon failed to penetrate Barrow’s block again and again with optimistic balls into the area. Wimbledon came close on a few isolated occasions, with Marcus Browne’s gorgeous outside-the-box volley flying past the far post before Matty Steven completely miskicked what should have been an easy shot at goal near the penalty spot.

The second half proved more fruitful for the Dons, who would finally break the deadlock in the 60th minute, as Stevens dragged himself and his marker out of the way of a Joe Lewis long ball and allowed it to run through to Browne, who smashed home at the near post.

Wimbledon doubled their lead in the 85th minute thanks to some Neufville brilliance down the right wing, beating his man before swinging a ball into the box where Stevens met it to break his goalscoring drought.

Barrow finally struck back in the 88th minute thanks to a deflected Dean Campbell effort on the breakaway, with the anxiety in the stadium growing as the game headed into six minutes of additional time. The roof would come off in the modest away section when a ball came rolling across the penalty spot in front of Barrow midfielder Mahoney, who smashed his strike into the bottom left corner for the equaliser in the 96th minute of the game.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Wimbledon made two changes to the side that beat Carlisle last Saturday, with Browne replacing Omar Bugiel – away on international duty with Lebanon – while James Tilley returned to the squad in place of James Furlong in the left wing-back role. The dons persisted with the 3-5-2 shape that has replaced their favoured 3-4-3 of late, with Callum Maycock replacing one of the attacking spots to make up an extra man in midfield, while Browne partnered Stevens in a narrow front two in attack.

Barrow deployed a deeper back five, with a front three that sat high on Wimbledon’s backline both in and out of possession. They would harass their opponents on the ball while a midfield duo behind them attempted to cut off any passing options into the middle third of the pitch, regularly forcing the Dons to go long in hopes of finding a Wimbledon head or a Josh Neufville run in behind.

STAR MAN

Joe Lewis. While the work-rate of Stevens and the finish from Browne deserve recognition, it was once again Lewis who stood out as Wimbledon’s top performer. Despite the Dons’ long ball tactics not working as a whole, it was only Lewis’ quality deliveries that made them even the slightest bit viable, including for the eventual goal.

Out of possession, he was tasked with handling six feet four inch-tall targetman Aaron Pressley, which he made look very easy. Lewis won every header against the taller opponent, and was just as dominant on the ground and defending balls into the box. There was little he could do to prevent the goals in the end.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

The game will be remembered as an eventful one, thanks to the frantic final act of the game, but that is painting over what was a truly dire first hour of football, on a very poor day for League Two football as a whole. By half-time at Plough Lane, nine of the 11 games had either finished or were 0-0.

With extra eyes on the league thanks to the lack of Premier League football during the international break, it felt like the league was letting its core viewers down in front of the country. Then again, anyone who stayed until the end of this one saw first-hand the kind of entertainment that League Two can provide.

TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB

Wimbledon continued a disappointing run of form in the hunt for the automatic places, with the nature of this result especially ringing alarm bells at Plough Lane.

A team chasing for promotion should not be letting games slip from their fingers in this way against teams far lower down in the table. Favourable results from the rest of their promotion rivals leaves Wimbledon in third, but with Port Vale and Doncaster able to leapfrog them with their games in hand, things are becoming very tense in south-west London.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“To not win from that position, that late, is a sucker punch, especially because we got into that position by a really strong second-half performance, so it is frustrating not to get the win that the performance deserved.

“The goals are our fault really. We had the ball, we had control, we had a free kick and we allowed them to turn over possession and we allowed them to come back and attack us.

“If you get unlocked and someone picks out a worldie from 30 yards into the top corner, you have to live with that, but I think today was self-inflicted.

“As much as it hurts now, I have to remember how good we were in the second half, and if we continue to play like that we will pick up a lot of points.”

MAIN PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD