AFC Wimbledon were made to settle for a point on Saturday afternoon as Salford City held us to a 0-0 draw.
It could’ve been an entirely different story however, with Ali Al-Hamadi passing up some brilliant chances to take all three points home to South London. It was uncharacteristic from our number 10 who also created a good opening for Josh Neufville.
All in all we were rarely troubled by the home side and will certainly feel that this is perhaps an opportunity missed to make it three wins in a row across all competitions. A clean sheet and a point will be pleasing for Johnnie Jackson, however he will undoubtedly feel it should have been more.
Watch highlights of today's game below.
Our manager named an unchanged team from the 4-0 win over Swindon Town as the Dons sought to add to what is an already impressive away record.
In keeping with the theme of our most recent matches Wimbledon started the faster of the two sides with Armani Little seeing an early effort whistle narrowly off target.
Our players were understandably oozing confidence, with Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, Neufville and Al-Hamadi all showing nice touches in the final third as we sought a breakthrough.
The pressure was mounting on the hosts however we couldn’t quite find the magic touch required to put us ahead. Little had another opportunity from distance just shy of the half hour mark as he fired over the bar following a corner.
Our number 14 found most of the half chances coming his way in the opening 45 minutes as he again fired just off target soon after.
Moving into the second-half and it was a case of maintaining the pressure that we had built up on the Salford goal in the first.
It was a task we took too well in the opening stages, with Al-Hamadi threading Neufville in behind the defence, allowing our number 11 the chance to force Alex Cairns into a good save. Alex Bass then made his first notable save of the afternoon as he kept out a Conor McAleny free-kick.
Al-Hamadi was then presented with the chance of the game just after the hour mark as he sped through the Salford backline - the in-form striker kept his composure to round Cairns but his effort went wide from a tight angle.
It was then the turn of Jack Currie to have a pop at goal on his birthday, with the 22-year-old seeing a powerful effort palmed away from the top corner by Cairns. James Tilley and Harry Pell were introduced off the bench as we sought a goal to put us in front as the game approached the final quarter.
The best openings continued to fall the way of Al-Hamadi, however he couldn’t find his golden touch second time round either as his effort missed the target after getting in behind. More fire power was brought onto the pitch soon after as Josh Davison entered the field in place of Neufville.
Our number 10 had a chance win it as the 90th minute came around, however his effort went the wrong side of the post as his frustrations continued.
This proved to be the final action of the game on a day when the Dons could have easily walked away with all three points.
AFC Wimbledon: Alex Bass, Huseyin Biler, Jake Reeves, Ryan Johnson, Ali Al-Hamadi, Josh Neufville (Josh Davison), Armani Little, Omar Bugiel (Harry Pell), Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (James Tilley), Jack Currie, Joe Lewis
Attendance: 2,338 (412 away)
PICS: Clive Howes (Pro Sports Images)