Match report
Sam Hatton’s deflected free-kick midway through the first half was enough to give the Dons all three points against a side that had beaten them 4-1 only 11 days before. The result kept AFC Wimbledon four points clear at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier.
Three bad results in two seasons against the same side might not be enough to qualify them as your bogey team (West Ham’s 45-year wait for a win at Anfield is more like it), but Terry Brown’s young side were still keen to lay the ghosts of Bootham Crescent to rest. The previous week’s heavy defeat in Yorkshire followed last season’s 5-0 and 1-0 reverses at the hands of the Minstermen, and with Gary Mills’s side on an impressive run of just one loss in the last 13 games – albeit an unexpected hammering at Southport – this encounter was shaping up to be a tough examination of the Dons’ championship credentials.
Within the first five minutes it was clear that this was going to be a far more aesthetically pleasing game than the previous Saturday’s scrappy encounter with Fleetwood, with both sides looking to find their wide men in 4-3-3 formations. The Dons fared the better in the opening exchanges: Christian Jolley’s skill and persistence earned a couple of corners, and Luke Moore looked sharp on his return to the starting line-up.
York’s hard-working midfield looked for top scorer Michael Rankine at every opportunity, but the muscular striker was finding it tough going against the joint forces of Brett Johnson and Jamie Stuart, who look remarkably comfortable together in what was only their second start as a pair. But as the half progressed, the Dons started to gain the upper hand. The seemingly jet-propelled James Mulley was in fine form, winning tackle after tackle and continually trying to pick the killer pass, complementing Steven Gregory’s brightest opening to a game for some time.
After Danny Kedwell misjudged the flight of a Sam Hatton cross and headed wide, it was Mulley who forced an error out of City that led to the Dons taking the lead. As the former Hayes & Yeading man made another energetic burst from the centre circle, he was brought down by Ashley Chambers 25 yards from goal. Referee Hopkins awarded the free-kick, Gareth Gwillim stepped over it, and Sam Hatton’s low piledriver was deflected past the stranded Michael Ingham by a stray York boot to give the Dons a deserved lead.
The goal seemed to breathe life into City, Chambers in particular, and both he and Scott Kerr forced Seb Brown into decent saves, but what was more troubling to the Dons’ England C keeper was the low sun. Twice he misjudged the bounce of the ball as the peered into the glare, once conceding a needless corner, and almost doing so a second time before a shout from Johnson helped him out.
York had a good shout for a penalty waved away by Mr Hopkins when the ball struck Gregory on the elbow following a corner, but the Dons saw out the remainder of an entertaining battle of a half. Brown was called upon to only carry out some routine handling duties, while City’s keeper Ingham had equally an untaxing last few minutes.
The second half began in slightly more exciting fashion with the Dons dominating the opening exchanges. Jolley did brilliantly with a series of Messi-like stepovers as he perplexed James Meredith, but delayed his cross for too long, and the end result was more, well, messy. Kedwell and Moore both had shots charged down by the highly rated David McGurk in the centre of City’s defence.
But far from being a war of attrition, the game was becoming an intriguing contest with Rankine coming to life and Jonathan Smith playing a far greater role in proceedings after a largely anonymous first half. Rankine and McGurk failed to convert chances from right-wing corners as City pressed for the equaliser, but it was the Dons who should have scored the game’s second goal.
Rashid Yussuff robbed Kerr, found some rare space in the York midfield and burst into it, releasing the ball superbly for Kedwell to run on to with just Ingham to beat, but the keeper spread himself well and denied the Dons’ captain with his legs. Kedwell then set up Mulley with a great chance, latching onto Hatton’s lofted pass, but from his first-time cross Mulley’s effort from the edge of the six-yard box was blocked by the diving Chris Smith.
City were determined to become just the fifth side this season to leave Kingsmeadow with any points, and where other sides might have started to wilt, York seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. Were it not for a string of well-timed interventions by Johnson and Stuart, the Minstermen might have brought the scores level on several occasions.
With 10 minutes to go the referee played his part in presenting City with their clearest chance of the afternoon. Gwillim was clearly blocked as he looked to get on the end of a Gregory pass some 20 yards inside the York half. Two missed tackles later, Chambers, who had blatantly shoved the Dons left-back out of the way a few seconds earlier, found himself clean through on Brown’s goal, but the skilful winger scuffed his shot and sent it bobbling wide of the far post.
With only added time left, City again seemed certain to equalise when Rankine was presented with his clearest chance of the afternoon, but Sam Hatton’s tackle denied him at the death, and the Dons held on for all three points. Wimbledon’s record of 12 wins and three draws from 16 home games is the best in the BSBP this season. But for the Dons to stand a chance of automatic promotion it would take seven more acts of resilience, skill and fortitude to see them over the line.
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