AFC Wimbledon League Debut Spoiled by Late Handball

AFC Wimbledon manager Terry Brown bemoaned his side’s “diabolical defending” upon seeing his squad slip to a 3-2 defeat in its first ever Football League match.

Playing in front of a sell-out crowd of 4,629 at Kingsmeadow, Brown’s side battled back from two defensive mistakes to tie Bristol Rovers at 2-2, only to lose on a penalty kick conceded by central defender Brett Johnson with just five minutes remaining.

“I’m disappointed in our performance” said the Dons boss, who turned 59 on Friday. “We’d have lost at home in the Conference playing like that. We’re going to have a hard week’s training now and make sure we stop giving away catastrophic errors.”

The Dons could have reached halftime level or even up 3-2 had both Christian Jolley and Luke Moore held their nerve when played through one-on-one against Rovers keeper Scott Bevan.

Instead, the League football debutantes were 2-1 down at the break. At the 16 minute mark, midfielder Ricky Wellard dallied a risky throw by keeper Seb Brown. Rovers' Matt Gill poached the loose ball 25 yards away from goal and slotted a through ball to teammate Scott McGleish, who made no mistake with his finish.

Just three minutes later, Johnson was caught in possession on the halfway line, and McGleish had a clear run to goal. He saw his initial shot blocked by Brown and his follow-up half cleared by Gareth Gwillim; on his third try, McGleish opted to cross to Matt Harrold, who scored a header.

Yet the Wimbledon fairytale was revived in the 40th minute when Adam Virgo picked up a yellow card for his lunge on Christian Jolley. On the resulting free kick, Sam Hatton’s floating ball was expertly powered in by captain Jamie Stuart for the Dons first-ever goal in the League.

After the break came spells of Wimbledon pressure, but these were punctuated by excellent Rovers breaks which called Seb Brown into the action to deny both Gill and substitute Jo Kuffour.

Then two substitutes delivered the moment of Dons delirium. Charles Ademono ran onto Lee Minshull’s chipped ball in the area, made a deft turn, and finished.

But Dons hearts were broken late on by Johnson’s crazy handball. Adam Virgo powered the ball to the other side of the diving Seb Brown, and Bristol Rovers had the points.

While the Dons lacked the physical presence of Bristol Rovers, the second half comeback was a real positive, as were the performances of Ademeno, Jolley, Stuart and goalkeeper Brown.

After the game, former Wimbledon, Bristol Rovers and Wales manager Bobby Gould, who watched in the stands at Kingsmeadow on Saturday, said of the Dons: “51 points is what is needed for survival.That’s 17 wins. It’s all the manager needs to worry about, starting with Dagenham next Saturday.”

Match Statistics

AFC Wimbledon: Brown, Hatton, Gwillim (Bush 81), Porter (Minshull 62), Stuart, Johnson, Yusseff, Wellard, Midson, L Moore, Jolley (Ademeno 65)

Shots on target: AFC Wimbledon 4, Bristol Rovers 12

Shots off target: AFC Wimbledon 3, Bristol Rovers 5

Offside: AFC Wimbledon 1, Bristol Rovers 1

Corners: AFC Wimbledon 3, Bristol Rovers 7

Fouls conceded: AFC Wimbledon 10, Bristol Rovers 17

Yellow cards: AFC Wimbledon 1, Bristol Rovers 4

Red cards: AFC Wimbledon 0, Bristol Rovers 0