Match report
If ever a goal summed up a game, it was Christian Jolley’s bundled-in effort after Fleetwood keeper Scott Davies dropped a Danny Kedwell header with just six minutes remaining. It perfectly represented a scrappy, low-quality affair.
Not that Terry Brown would mind too much – three points was what the Dons boss wanted, and three points was what he got. The home side were boosted by the return to the starting line-up of Brett Johnson, making his first Kingsmeadow appearance since the 2-2 draw against Newport on August Bank Holiday Monday. The timing couldn’t have been better: the Dons were up against the division’s second-top scorer, Town’s Brazilian striker Magno Vieira, and their back four had looked its shakiest for some time in Tuesday’s reverse at York.
Johnson looked like he had never been away. In the opening exchanges his partnership with Jamie Stuart, the Dons’ eighth central defensive pairing of the season, was the game’s highlight, although the high winds and erratic refereeing of Mr Robinson contributed significantly to the disjointed nature of the first half.
Neither side looked overly capable of breaking the deadlock in the first 45 minutes. Fleetwood’s best chance fell to Gareth Seddon, who headed over from close range, but the Dons failed to create a clear-cut chance worthy of the name. Christian Jolley at least looked back to his pre-Christmas form, and it was from his chipped cross, after he had nicked the ball from Shaun Beeley on the byline just inside the penalty area, that Wimbledon should have taken the lead just after the half-hour. But Sammy Moore and Ryan Jackson got in each other’s way, and Moore’s tame header looped weakly over the bar.
Neither side were coming to terms with the high wind, and both were guilty of overhitting corners, much to the frustration of their managers. When the Dons got their short-corner routine wrong, Jolley’s pass-back to Gareth Gwillim fell a yard short and the Wimbledon left-back was booked for bringing down John Miles as the Fleetwood midfielder dispossessed him on the edge of the box. That seemed to encapsulated a first half in which the Dons tested keeper Scott Davies just the once, when Kedwell’s header from a Hatton cross was tipped around the post in time added on.
Shortly after the break, Fleetwood tested Seb Brown when the previously anonymous Vieira tried a 40-yard lobbed volley, but the keeper wasn’t far enough off his line. Three minutes later Jamie McGuire tried his luck from the same distance after a mix-up in the Dons defence, but again his shot lacked accuracy and power when a better effort could have caused Brown a far more anxious moment.
Wimbledon were now starting to use the speed of Ryan Jackson a lot more efficiently, and after a quiet first half the speedy winger began asking Fleetwood left-back Junior Brown some searching questions. Brown’s answer to one such question was to haul Jackson down and earn himself what would turn out to be a costly yellow card. For the first time in the game, Fleetwood’s 38-year-old former Leeds centre-half Sean Gregan was looking his age, and the Dons sensed that they might get something out of the game after all.
But not just yet. Fleetwood sub Jamie Mullan tested Seb Brown with a 25-yard snap shot which the keeper saved well, but shortly afterwards Brown made a horrible mess of a high ball into the box. As the ball fell to the prolific Vieira, it looked odds on that the visitors would take the lead, but Stuart threw himself in the way of Vieira’s shot and the ball deflected up and over the bar for a corner.
The Dons had managed to escape any punishment from their keeper’s error, but six minutes from time, with the game edging towards a draw, Fleetwood’s Davies made a far more costly mistake. After a Hatton free-kick was only partially cleared, Stuart headed the ball back into the box. Kedwell headed on, but his effort lacked power and looped gently towards Davies under the bar, but inexplicably the keeper dropped the ball under no pressure whatsoever, and it fell invitingly for Jolley to tap home his third goal in three games.
It got worse for Fleetwood when Junior Brown received his marching orders for picking up his second booking of the afternoon, this time tripping Dons sub Rashid Yussuff. Although he had been on the pitch for only 17 minutes, Yussuff had added pace and guile to a Wimbledon midfield that had looked below par for much of the preceding 73 minutes.
Wimbledon held on, a Fleetwood equaliser didn’t materialise, and the final whistle saw the Dons pull four points clear at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier. |
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