Dons Sail Close To The Wind In Plymouth Draw

---

Wimbledon 0 v Plymouth 0

Wimbledon earned a creditable 0-0 draw against in-form Plymouth on Tuesday (21 October), but came the closer to winning it.

The Dons bounced back following the disappointing defeat at Wycombe with a hardworking performance that their visitors matched, but the home side were left ruing missed opportunities.

A string of golden opportunities started with quarter of an hour on the clock when Dannie Bulman sent Matt Tubbs clear, but the prolific striker’s effort was turned around at the expense of a corner by Luke McCormick.

And they went close again straight from the corner, as Adam Barrett’s header was deflected up and narrowly over the bar by Anthony O’Connor.

The best chance of them all fell to George Francomb in the dying minutes of the first period as he was released by Adebayo Akinfenwa, but the former Norwich man hit the side netting as he attempted to get power behind his shot rather than placing it.

But it was Akinfenwa himself who went closest to breaking the deadlock with 20 minutes remaining, only to see his header bounce off the crossbar with McCormick beaten.

Although the Dons had the better of the goalscoring chances, it also took resolute defending to maintain the balance of play, with James Shea having to be alert to deny Bobby Reid and Adam Barrett forced into a fine interception to deny the same player.

Manager Neal Ardley told BBC London 94.9 afterwards: “It was probably a fair result. Both defences and keepers played really, really well. Every player had a decent game and played for the team.”

The Dons are at Kingsmeadow again on Saturday (25 October) when they host struggling Tranmere, before travelling to Northampton the following week.

• The Dons will discover their FA Cup First Round opponents on Monday 27 October when the draw is made live on the BBC.

Wimbledon: Shea, Fuller, Barrett, Frampton, Smith, Francomb, Moore, Bulman, Rigg, Akinfenwa, Tubbs. Subs not used: Bennett, Pell, Azeez, Kennedy, Nicholson, McDonnell, Harrison.

Plymouth: McCormick, Mellor, Nelson, McHugh, Hartley, Kellett, Reid, O’Connor, Blizzard, Reid (Smalley 72), Alessandra (Morgan 83). Subs not used: Bittner, Norburn, Banton, Harvey, Smalley, Bentley.

Booked: Nelson 55, Reid 71.

Att: 4,318.

By Rob Crane

What did you think of Wimbledon's performance? Why not comment on our forum?

October 23, 2014