Despite a dominant first half performance from Town, second half goals from Anthony Wordsworth and Joe Piggott resulted in a loss for the home side, with Wimbledon progressing into the 3rd round of the FA Cup as 3-1 victors.
Dayle Southwell had Town’s first real chance of the match from a direct free kick, which clipped the bottom of the wall and sailed wide. A real chance went begging only moments later for the hosts, as Staunton poked over from 6 yards after a free kick bobbled around in the area.
The hosts went close through Will Nightingale not much later, with their first real chance of the game being headed wide from a free kick. A sweeping counter attacking move by The Shaymen from a Wimbledon corner saw Matty Kosylo race through one on one with the keeper but could only strike the inside of the post with his effort.
What followed was a spell of dominance for the home side, with chance after chance going a miss; Niall Maher striking just over from the edge of the box and Jordan Preston having a shot saved well by the keeper.
Despite this good spell, it was the visitors who struck first through Ben Purrington 2 minutes before half time. A delivery in from the right-hand side was missed by Nathan Clarke and Jake Jervis, with Purrington lurking, he rifled in a deflected shot to make it 0-1. The late first half drama didn’t stop there, with Town seemingly having a clear penalty claim against Dayle Southwell being waved away.
The second half was largely dominated by the hosts who added a further two goals to their tally. Wimbledon doubled their lead with 20 minutes left, after muscling out Ryan Sellars, Anthony Wordsworth cut inside and curled a left footed shot into the top left-hand corner. They added to their lead only 5 minutes later through Joe Piggott. After Town failed to clear it in the box, Piggott poked it home past Johnson to make it 3-0 and all but seal the win for Wimbledon.
Town did earn a consolation goal 5 minute from time however, with Niall Maher arrowing in from wide and striking off James Hanson and in. Despite this, Town were unable to start a resurgence as Wimbledon quickly re-took control of the game and professionally saw out the win.
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