Ardley fumes as Dons slip to foot of table
WIMBLEDON......0 OXFORD ............3
WIMBLEDON boss Neal Ardley slammed his side after the Dons slipped to the bottom of League Two having not won since November.
Oxford, who also had James Constable sent off, claimed the win thanks to goals from Sean Rigg, Alfie Potter and Tom Craddock to extend their unbeaten run to nine in all competitions.
However, Ardley feels his side lack a winning mentality, something he will look to change in January.
“There’s too many weak mental- ities,” said Ardley. “We’re bottom going into the New Year and I’m willing to have a go at this and make sure we don’t go down. I need players to show courage.
“I’ve defended the players in the past and I’m not going to defend them after that.
“We think about what we have to do in training, but ultimately when you get out on the pitch it takes us until we’re 2-0 down for anyone to show any courage.
“For 25 to 30 minutes, there wasn’t one player who took responsibility for their performance.
“Not one player did their bit that they were asked to do before the game.
“Myself and the coaching staff work hard all week but it’s out of our hands at a certain point.”
After an opening half hour of little action the away side took the lead. A lovely defence splitting pass from Potter found Rigg who slammed his shot into the top corner.
Soon after the away side doubled their lead. Rigg turned provider this time as his cross found Potter who nodded the ball over the line.
Wimbledon had a good spell early in the second half but failed to convert their chances.
Just over the hour mark United killed the game.
Wimbledon’s
Will
Antwi attempted to head back to his keeper, but Craddock was there to pounce on the pass-back to coolly slot past Sullivan for his 11th of the season.
United’s afternoon was soured as Constable was sent off after a clash with Antwi.
Oxford boss Chris Wilder was furious with referee Lee Collins’ decision.
“The ref got it wrong,” said Wilder. “The lads conned the referee and he’s fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
“There was a bit of a coming together and bit of banter between which, when I played, happened all the time. You were always winding players up and it’s part of the game. All they were doing was having a nip at each other.
“It is disappointing because it was a really good performance. “There was a lot of good individual performances.
“It’s another win and we’re a bit closer to where we want to be.”