Match report
The Dons advanced into the last qualifying round of the FA Trophy with a good home win over high-flying Tonbridge Angels, but in truth this was a somewhat patchy performance. Paul Barnes and Roscoe Dsane lined up together at the front and Luke Garrard came in to central midfield to play alongside Steve Watson as Wes Daly had not recovered from the knock he picked up at Exeter. Steve Butler and Lee Kersey were the centre-halves as Antony Howard was suspended.
The visitors registered the first half-chance of the day when a shot was screwed round the post but it was the home side who took the lead from an unexpected source. Bubb picked the ball up on the left and laid a short pass into the path of Garrard who ran with the ball and unleashed a shot from five yards outside the penalty area. Garrard?s shot eluded the keeper and nestled into the side netting to give the Dons a seventh minute lead.
The game was characterised by some eccentric refereeing, with both sets of players and management left scratching their heads at times at some of the decisions made. Tonbridge played some nice football and created some good opportunities but didn?t work Andy Little in the home goal as much as they would like to have.
Scott Gooding was doing a good job getting forward from right-back and delivered some dangerous crosses into the box for the visitors. The next clear chance went to the Dons though, with Kersey heading wide of the post from a corner. Within two minutes of that miss John Main recorded his best chance of the half when some neat inter-passing down the left gave him the ball in a good position, but his cushioned volley looped wide of the post. Shortly afterwards the Angels went close again, this time from a corner. Centre-half Beales out-jumped Darren Grieves, on for then injured Dsane, at the far post and it took a brave Steve Wales clearance off the line to keep the Dons ahead.
Wimbledon should have added a second when Paul Barnes broke at pace down the right and crossed low but the onrushing Grieves was unable to make the required contact and the ball ran to safety. The second did finally come before half time, but when it did it was slightly farcical. A long ball from Wales bounced off Paul Barnes?s back and Ray Powell, tracking back from midfield, looped a back-pass towards his keeper, failing to notice that Aaron Kerr had come out to the edge of his box. The ball went straight over the keeper?s head and hit the post, with Kerr then frantically running back and clawing the ball away, but only as far as Barnes who slotted home from a couple of yards out to give Wimbledon a fortuitous 2-0 half-time lead.
A couple of times the Dons have started the second-half of games in a somewhat sleepy pattern this time however they appeared to be comatose with the Kent side drawing things level within eight minutes of the restart. First Fraser Logan drove into the box from the left, beat his man and shot low into the corner. Five minutes later the scores were level when the Dons failed to deal with a ball into the box, Main prodding home past Little.
The Dons eventually woke up and Kerr had to produce a stunning point-blank save from a close-range Grieves volley. Little then had a chance to shine pushing a Logan effort over the bar. The Dons re-took the lead with 20 minutes to go when substitute Shroot beat his man down the left and was fouled. Garrard?s free kick into the near post hit Kersey before being deflected over his own line by Beales.
With Tonbridge chasing the game there were opportunities at both ends, but Wimbledon saw out the rest of the game without further setback. Despite the patchy performance the Dons had shown character to come back from 10 horrific minutes at the start of the second-half to regain the lead and win the game and the prize of a home time against Nationwide South side Eastleigh in the next round.
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