Ardley is wowed by ‘great’ away win
NEIL ARDLEY refused to get carried away after his in-form AFC Wimbledon closed in on the play-off places with victory at Barnet.
Second-half goals from Lyle Taylor and substitute Ade Azeez gave the Dons a sixth win in seven games to move them to within a point of the top seven.
Bees substitute Mathew Stevens set up a tense finish with his first senior goal two minutes from time, but Wimbledon held on to ensure a happy trip home across London.
Ardley said:“When I looked at the home league table they were third so they don’t lose many here, they expect to win.
“We played well, we defended well for most parts and it’s a great away win.
“I thought all the teams in and around us would win, and they did. We haven’t moved league position and I’m not caught up with that, we’ve chalked another three points off the list.
“Let’s just enjoy it, keep going, enjoy trying to chalk these points up on the board and, if we don’t make the play-offs, we’re going to have had a good season anyway.”
The Dons began the brighter of the teams and defender Jon Meades saw his early header from George Francomb’s corner repelled by Bees ‘keeper Jamie Stephens.
Midfielder Andy Barcham was the next to go close when his dipping half-volley rippled the side-netting, while Stephens produced another excellent stop to deny striker Tom Elliott.
The visitors made their dominance count within a minute of the restart when top-scorer Taylor latched on to Ryan Sweeney’s long ball and calmly found the bottom left corner.
Bees substitute Shaun Batt and captain Andy Yiadom threatened equalisers only to be denied by goalkeeper Kelle Roos, before Azeez looked to have put the result beyond doubt when he tapped in Francomb’s centre with five minutes left.
Stevens had other ideas but the teenage forward’s close-range finish proved to be too little too late, leaving Bees manager Martin Allen unhappy with his players and promising changes. “This place has been a fantastic home for us and I don’t say it very often, they were better than us in far too many areas,” he said.“They were stronger, more powerful, they had more hunger and you can very rarely say that against my Barnet team.
“This team played very well last week at Dagenham and they deserved a chance to play, but now changes will be made because we are better than what we played.
“Our players all work very hard to get a place in the team and if they don’t play well, then the players outside the team will play.”