Ugly Dons leave it so late to triumph
JOE Pigott’s stoppagetime winner lifted AFC Wimbledon out of the relegation zone, leaving manager Neal Ardley only too happy to have won ugly.
In truth, games of football don’t come much more unsightly than this one – a match which, for 93 minutes, was a shocker that passed almost without incident.
But try finding a Dons fan that cares about that.
For that latest of twists has moved them up to 18th in the table and one point clear of the bottom four, but this was a huge disappointment for the play-offchasing Pirates.
Ardley said: “I’m not going to apologise for us not being free-flowing and having loads and loads of chances because when you’ve conceded 11 goals in four games you have to start with a clean sheet, if you can.
“We had to make sure we were in the game and had a chance of winning it.
“If we’d have drawn 0-0, we’d have drawn 0-0 because we had to be solid and hard to beat.
“In the end, the boys have come through and obviously we’re delighted.”
Liam Trotter lifted a good chance over, on the turn, for Wimbledon after Cody McDonald had headed back Andy Barcham’s cross.
In what was a first half of few chances, Liam Sercombe looked set to give Bristol Rovers the lead, only for Deji Oshilaja to get back and make an excellent block for the home side.
Opportunities continued to be scarce after half time, with Ellis Harrison sending a free header from Chris Lines’ free-kick well wide on the hour mark.
Joe Partington then had a rare shot on target for Rovers, as his powerful drive from 25 yards was beaten away by Wimbledon goalkeeper George Long. Just when the match looked to be petering out to a dour draw, Pigott snatched the points at the death for the Dons.
The striker planted in a downward header from Harry Forrester’s pinpoint cross. Rovers boss Darrell Clarke said: “I thought there was nothing in the game.
“We defended very well for 92 minutes and 42 seconds, but our forward play was diabolical.
“I’ve just had a pop at the lads for that.
“We had opportunities, we had a lot of breaks on and forward runs.
“But our decisionmaking with our forward pass, wanting to break their line, wasn’t good enough.
“I felt a bit for my backline, to be honest with you, because we defended superbly.”