Barnet's Lawrie Sanchez Gets Hero's Welcome at AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon 1 – 1 Barnet

The knives may be out for Barnet manager Lawrie Sanchez from several of his own supporters, but the scorer of Wimbledon’s most famous goal—to clinch the FA Cup final in 1988—returned to a hero’s reception in South London on Saturday, and left with a well-earned point.

Sanchez’s relegation-haunted side may have struggled in defence of late, conceding six against Burton last week, but they worked tirelessly to nullify an improved Wimbledon second half performance and fully justified their share of the spoils after taking the lead on the cusp of half time.

AFC Wimbledon, deprived of their own manager Terry Brown who is taking time off due to a family illness, were woeful in the first half. They managed a solitary meaningful attempt on the Barnet goal through striker Christian Jolley—a piledriver that was tipped over by Dean Brill.

By contrast, Barnet settled well and showed industry and invention with their plentiful possession, and deservedly took the lead through a textbook header from Izale McLeod from six yards out.

“Looking at our team, we didn’t do enough in the first half,” commented visibly disappointed Wimbledon stand-in manager Stuart Cash after the game. “Being the home team, I expected [Barnet] to be hard to break down, but we didn’t seem to play any football at all.”

The Dons—who have now taken just two points from five matches—needed to significantly improve after the break.

Yet, while the introduction of substitutes James Mulley and Kieran Djalili gave the team a visible lift, the team didn’t suggest at any stage that they had done enough to win the game, although Sammy Moore’s deflected effort in the 62nd minute earned his side a draw.

“We got back into the game thanks to the two wide players coming on,” added Cash. “But I didn’t think we did enough to win the game, in the end a draw was a fair result.”

Sanchez, meanwhile, was glowing in his praise for the set-up of AFC Wimbledon. “This is the real Wimbledon,” he said. “Their support was fantastic, and their team gave them something to sing about as well.”

Terry Brown is likely to be present at Wimbledon’s next game—away at Swindon in Tuesday’s Johnstone’s Paint southern quarter-final—but Cash is expected to remain in charge for that match and the Scunthorpe FA Cup game at The Cherry Red Records stadium next weekend.

Left-back Christopher Bush, dropped for the Barnet match, should get a run-out against Paolo Di Canio’s side in midweek.

AFC Wimbledon: Brown; Hatton, Johnson (Mulley), McNaughton, Stuart; L Moore (Ademeno), S Moore, Yusseff (Djalili), Porter; Jolley, Midson

Attendance 4,369 (537 from Barnet)

My man of the match: Jamie Stuart

Adam Harwood is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.