DUCKING HELL! NAZ SAVES DAY
BOTH managers felt their side dropped two points in the battle to beat relegation as Wimbledon drew at home to Oldham.
And the nervy nature of the contest, left Latics boss Richie Wellens worrying for the health of the club’s fans.
Wimbledon twice had the lead through Jonathan Meades and Joe Piggott, but Oldham showed their resilience to level both times through Duckens Nazon.
The result does little to ease the relegation worries of either side with the opportunity to pick up points fast running out.
The Dons are now three points clear of the bottom four, with the Latics only a solitary point above the drop.
Wellens said: “Following Oldham should come with a health warning!
“I think the overall feeling is that we deserved to win the game.
“I don’t know how many shots on target we’ve had or how many chances to score but as much as I was disappointed with our first-half performance, Wimbledon have only had two shots on goal in the first half.
“I was disappointed with the tempo we played, we went too long, too early and we performed at a level that was ok without really making anything happen.”
Meanwhile, Ardley couldn’t fault his side’s spirit but was left ruing letting two leads slip away.
He said: “I’m disappointed that we’ve only come away with a point if I’m honest.
“We got ourselves in front twice and we couldn’t hold on to a lead so we’ve only really got ourselves to blame.
“The players gave everything and I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them.
“Oldham had a right go at us in the second half but we showed character to come back from conceding so soon after half time.
“We didn’t really create enough chances but the few chances we did create, we managed to score from which is a good thing.”
Oldham forced the first save of the game with Craig Davies making Wimbledon goalkeeper George Long to parry his effort in the ninth minute.
The Dons opened the scoring a minute later with Meades firing in from ten yards via the aid of a deflection.
Oldham started the secondhalf brightly and were level within five minutes, with Nazon firing in at the far post from Tom Hamer’s long throw.
Wimbledon went back in front in the 68th minute however, with Piggott passing the ball into the net from Meades’ low cutback. The Latics equalised in the 74th minute, Nazon grabbing his second of the game with a low finish from the edge of the penalty area from Eoin Doyle’s cross. Nazon came close to completing a hat-trick and grabbing an important win for Oldham, but his header was deflected wide of the post from Aaron Amadi-Holloway’s centre.
And Lyle Taylor missed the opportunity to take all three points for Wimbledon in stoppage time, with Johny Placide doing well to smother his effort.