Dons Secure Fleetwood Point
Fleetwood 0 v Wimbledon 0
Wimbledon secured a deserved point against promotion-chasing Fleetwood as they drew 0-0 at Highbury on Saturday (1 March) in a scrappy encounter.
But boss Neal Ardley was unsatisfied, telling BBC London 94.9: ‘We didn’t come here for a point, we came here for three, and at the end we were hanging on a bit, which you would expect after a tough game on Tuesday [at Newport].
‘I thought we won the midfield battle second half, we worked hard and we will keep working towards our targets.’
The Dons were forced to platy Aaron Morris in central defence due to an injury to captain Alan Bennett, but Morris was himself forced off through injury just after the half hour, being replaced by Harry Pell with the Dons switching to a 4-4-2 formation.
By then, Luke Moore had already seen one effort held by Fleetwood keeper Chris Maxwell, while at the other end Michael Mandron had also forced Ross Worner into action.
After his introduction, Pell was straight into the action, but his header back into the box following a half-cleared corner was met weakly by Danny Hylton, who headed straight at Maxwell from close range, somewhat typifying the Dons’ recent lack of punch in the box.
In the second period, Luke Moore was again involved after being set up by Michael Collins, but his curled effort was just off target, while Charlie Sheringham also shot off target when well placed.
Although substitute Kevin Sainte-Luce set up Collins for a header that went straight at Maxwell, it was the home side who had the final clear scoring opportunity at the death when Nathan Pond headed a corner wide at the far post when he really should have done better.
The Dons will seek to maintain their recent mini-revival when they host York City (Saturday 8 March) and Chesterfield (Tuesday 11 March) at Kingsmeadow.
Fleetwood: Maxwell, McLaughlin, Taylor, Goodall, Roberts, Pond, Sarcevic, Murdoch, Parkin (Matt 81), Mandron (Hughes 66), Grant (Morris 38). Subs not used: Davies, Evans, Jordan, Marrow.
Booked: Morris 78.
Wimbledon: Worner, Fuller, Richards, Morris (Pell 32), Antwi, Jones, Collins, S. Moore, Hylton (Wyke 62), Sheringham (Sainte-Luce 84), L. Moore. Subs not used: Midson, Fenlon, Brown, Nicholson.
Att: 2,420.
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March 1, 2014
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