Burton Albion 0-0 AFC Wimbledon
Neal Ardley sang the praises of his side’s performance after frustrating Burton Albion, despite Mark Phillipsbeing sent off with 25 minutes left last night.
The Brewers were overtaken at the top of League Two by Shrewsbury Town having dropped points at home for the first time in seven games under Chelsea legend Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Wimbledon keeper James Shea was forced into vital saves from Stuart Beavon and Lucas Akins to keep the scores level and Dons boss Ardley felt aggrieved that a red card hampered his team’s game plan.
“It was obviously tough after the sending off because we had to curb what we had been doing, but I thought when it was 11 versus 11 that we were the more likely team to score,” he said.
“I have to be careful with what I say – It’s really hard when you prepare your team perfectly for the game, but certain things go on that you cannot do anything about.”
The Dons’ best chance was cleared off the Brewers’ goal line by Tom Naylor, Alfie Potter also came close but saw Burton stopper Jon McLaughlin save his low effort.
Promotion-chasing Burton almost nicked the win at the death when Beavon was presented with a terrific chance but he fired over the bar.
Ardley said: “We have a good squad and we wanted to play to our strengths.
“We knew we could get our two skilful dribblers (Alfie Potter and Craig Tanner) up with Adebayo Akinfenwa making things happen.
“It did not quite happen, but we pushed Craig Tanner further forward in the second half and he got in behind them a lot.”
The encouraging result keeps AFC Wimbledon in play-off contention, five points behind Plymouth and with a game in hand on most other teams.
Ardley’s men face another tricky away fixture this weekend as they travel to now league-leaders Shrewsbury.
Image courtesy of AFCWimbledonTV via YouTube, with thanks
