COMPTON SHOWS THE WAY TO GO
JACK COMPTON’S first hat-trick dented Wimbledon’s play-off prospects and ensured Yeovil’s revival under Darren Way continued.
The Glovers were heading towards a third successive relegation before Way succeeded Paul Sturrock in December but now look capable of avoiding the drop.
The Dons had chalked up four consecutive victories to move to the brink of the play-offs, but Yeovil fully deserved to win.
Wimbledon led twice in the first half through David Fitzpatrick and Tom Elliott but saw Compton equalise both times before scoring the winner from the penalty spot after the break.
“This was the best performance and the biggest achievement of my time in charge so far,” said Way. “To come here and win is fantastic.
“When you look at the form Wimbledon have been in and the run they had been on it’s a really big win for us. They’ve got a strong squad and a really impressive strike force but we were the better team.
“I’m delighted to have scored three goals away from home and our group of players are strong at the moment. Confidence is really high.
“They deserve immense credit and I’ve told them they’ve got to do all they can to avoid relegation, that they don’t want a relegation on their CV and they don’t want to go away in the summer having dropped out of the League.”
Dons boss Neal Ardley admitted his side were not at their best and was disappointed with the goals they let in. “We made a good start and took the lead but to concede three goals at home just isn’t good enough,” he said.
“I knew this would be one of our toughest games and Yeovil deserve credit because their togetherness and work ethic has been brilliant.
“That was exactly the sort of game I expected and we scored two good goals but too many players didn’t perform to their usual level.
“The goals we conceded were poor and the penalty we gave away was cheap, it was just lazy defending.
“We should have ground out a win having taken the lead twice, but fair play to Yeovil, they were better than us.”
Wimbledon went ahead on nine minutes with a brilliant team goal as Jake Reeves and Elliott combined to set up Fitzpatrick to blast in from 20 yards.
Yeovil were level just three minutes later as Liam Walsh sent Compton clear and the winger slid the ball past home keeper James Shea.
On 30 minutes Wimbledon regained their lead with Barry Fuller finding Elliott in space and the big striker volleyed past Artur Krysiak from the edge of the area.
But they were ahead for only five minutes before Compton scored his second, curling a free-kick on the touchline past an embarrassed Shea. And when Callum Kennedy fouled Kevin Dawson after the break, Compton scored the winner from the spot, completing his hat-trick in the process.