UWE: POINT IS ALL WE DESERVE
UWE ROSLER admitted Fleetwood Town got what they deserved after his side dropped out of the automatic promotion places, as AFC Wimbledon held them to a disappointing goalless draw at Highbury Stadium.
The Dons were the better side late on and could easily have taken all three points, but Town manager Rosler felt it was the right result.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game. We kept a clean sheet and picked up a point, which was probably a fair one,” he said.
“It’s true that we were hanging in there in the last 15 minutes.
“Sometimes in these situations it becomes a lot more about mentality, but we saw it out and didn’t concede.
“That’s now 21 games and one defeat, so it’s not too bad. We’ve had more injuries than most of our competitors but we’re still in there.
“Hopefully we’ll get a few players back soon so we can finish the season strongly.”
The first half was a scrappy affair which the home side shaded.
Ashley Hunter had the best chance after David Ball slipped him through with a clear run on goal, but the young forward went for power rather than precision and James Shea was able to parry over.
Dean Parrett tried his luck from 40 yards for the visitors after spotting Alex Cairns off his line, but the Cod Army keeper recovered to save his goal-bound effort.
Good work from Amari’i Bell down the left presented Bobby Grant with an opportunity, but he fired over from 15 yards as the half drew to a close.
Fleetwood started the second half well enough; Bell’s cross was met at the back post by Conor McLaughlin, but his header was straight at Shea.
But it was the Dons who had the better of the chances after that.
Andy Barcham wasted several opportunities, one after good work from Tom Elliot, but his effort was a whisker over the bar before firing over once again late on.
And Wimbledon assistant manager Neil Cox felt that point is one to be happy with.
“We knew what we had to do. Coming away to the team second in the league is always going to be tough, but we handled them well,” he said.
“We should have won it in the end. We made the decision to push on with 25 minutes to go and we caused them a lot of problems.
“Changing to a 3-4-3 we created a few half-chances but we had to be careful at the back as well, and they didn’t really create anything.
“We need to keep going now and keep pushing to see where we’ll finish come the end of the season.” The result saw both sides drop down in the league standings, Fleetwood down to third after Bolton’s win over Northampton.