AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Northampton Town: The Dons deepen Cobblers’ relegation woes with narrow win

Callum Maycock’s first-half finish secured AFC Wimbledon a 1-0 triumph over relegation-threatened Northampton Town, who have now gone six League One games without a win.

After the match, Northampton boss Kevin Nolan admitted his side were not good enough during the first half, the Cobblers looking out of their depth in the opening 45 minutes.

Nolan went back to the drawing board after just 31 minutes, replacing Tyrese Fornah with Max Dyche before making two more changes at half-time.

The visitors were much improved after the break, but Nolan believes his side deserved to lose after a disappointing first-half display.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed EFL news you need, subscribe to The Football League Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.

Disappointing

“Yeah, it was very tough,” he said. “Look, the reality of it is we just weren’t good enough in the first half.

“That is why we had to change something quite quickly; we couldn’t let the game get away from us.

“That is why we made the sub as early as we did. I thought it settled us a bit, although it still was not great and when we got them in at half-time, we were able to give them a bit more instruction.

“Something had to be done, we did it, but unfortunately, we just did not get too close.

“We made the keeper make some saves in the second half. It was better; he ended up getting man of the match, which says a lot.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we have to roll our sleeves up. You have to give credit to them [AFC Wimbledon], they have beaten some good sides here.

“It is always a difficult place to come, you have got to give credit to them.”

Match action

The Dons were on the front foot in the early stages, with Myles Hippolyte nodding Isaac Ogundere’s threatening cross just wide of the right post.

The early pressure paid off in the ninth minute when Maycock tapped Marcus Browne’s superb cut-back past Lee Burge to give the hosts the lead.

James Tilley used his pace and skill to burst into the penalty area in the 20th minute, but Northampton cleared his dangerous low cross away to safety.

Tilley continued to impress as the half progressed, producing a cultured strike from the edge of the box that forced an excellent save from Burge.

Burge produced another save on the stroke of half-time, denying Maycock’s powerful strike bound for the bottom-right corner.

Joe McDonnell got down quickly to deny Tom Eaves as the visitors went on the hunt for an equaliser after the break.

Northampton also went close in the 60th minute, but McDonnell made another great save to stop Jake Evans’ shot.

Browne had an acrobatic effort cleared off the line as the clash drew to a close.

Opportunity

Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson says his side recognised that the clash was a great opportunity to move up the table.

“We knew this was an opportunity for us to add to our total and keep climbing the table,” he added.

“We have done that today in a tough game, a really tough game – I felt like we showed two really good sides to us, with the ball and without the ball.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half, the way we moved the ball and caused them problems.

“I was really pleased with that – I wanted a second goal to make the scoreline more comfortable and so it reflected the way the game had gone.

“Football doesn’t always work like that. They were obviously going to change things [in the second half] to try and get back into it.

“We had to show a different side to us. It was a really similar game at their place and we conceded in the second half and they won the game, and took it away from us.

“It was similar in terms of what they tried to do in the second half. We wanted a second to kill it but sometimes you don’t get it and it is about seeing it through.”

READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers 3-2 Wycombe Wanderers: Never-say-die Trotters seal vital victory in ‘Fergie Time’