LATICS BATTER HEADLESS DONS
WIMBLEDON manager Neal Ardley accused his players of losing their heads but that didn’t bother four-star Wigan, as the table-toppers comfortably dispatched the Dons.
The home side came out of the dressing room fired up following a slow first half but their intensity boiled over and Harry Forrester saw red after the Dons went 1-0 down, giving them an uphill battle.
Michael Jacobs, Nick Powell, Max Power and Ivan Toney did the damage but Ardley was left fuming with his own troops – especially Forrester after he got a second yellow for a late challenge on Sam Morsy.
Ardley said: “The lads lost their heads.
“We got at them in the second half but you can’t go down to ten men against a team of this quality. It is nigh on impossible with the way they keep the ball and move it.
“Forrester deserved to be sent off.
“We lost our discipline and shape in the last 25 minutes and because of that we end up getting a drubbing that I don’t think we deserve.
“There is not much as a manager you can do.”
Meanwhile, Latics’ assistant manager Leam Richardson also selected the Forrester dismissal as a turning point.
He said: “Once they go down to ten men our lads picked up confidence with the goal, and they moved the ball well.”
On 57 minutes, Powell played a lovely ball through to Gavin Massey who nipped past his defender and cut the ball back to Jacobs to slot home and put the visitors ahead.
Forrester’s ill-discipline then saw him dismissed and Powell added to Wimbledon’s misery with a powerful strike past keeper George Long from the edge of the box minutes later.
Again Wimbledon gave away a sloppy free-kick on the edge of their box and Morsy teed up Power, who lived up to his name and fired an incredible shot into the top corner to make it 30 ten minutes from time.
Richardson added: “We believe in all our players. Sometimes it’s hard, picking the bench is a nightmare for myself and the gaffer.
“We’ve got full trust in them, they shared the goals and thankfully we got the win.”
The Wigan changes made an impact as Toney came on and scored with one of his first touches to seal the victory for Wigan, with a shot deflected over the wrong-footed Long.
Wimbledon created few chances in the match and now sit dangerously close to the bottom of the table.
Wigan retain their four-point lead at the top of the pile and extend their unbeaten stretch on the road to six games but Richardson isn’t getting ahead of himself
He said: “It’s still early in the season but we want to get through the Christmas period fresh and hopefully get more points on the road and come out the other side of Christmas in the same vein of form, so fingers crossed.”