IT was another disappointing afternoon for Plymouth Argyle as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to AFC Wimbledon at Home Park on Saturday.
In-form striker Lorent Tolaj gave the home side an early lead but the Dons fought back with a goal from Omar Bugiel just before half-time. Not long after the break, the away side completed the turnaround as Marcus Browne’s strike proved to be the winning goal.
Manager Tom Cleverley made three changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Wigan Athletic a fortnight ago. Captain Joe Edwards and midfielder Bradley Ibrahim both returned from suspension, while defender Alex Mitchell, on loan from Charlton Athletic, was also back.
The game couldn’t have started better for the home side who raced into a sixth minute lead through Tolaj, netting his seventh goal in 10 games since joining from Port Vale in the summer. The goal sprung Wimbledon into life though and the Greens weren’t able to add to their goal tally.
After winning plenty of 50-50s and firing a few warning shots, the Dons deservedly levelled the scoreline with a Bugiel header in the 44th minute following a cross from former Yeovil Town midfielder Myles Hippolyte.
Seven minutes into the second-half and Wimbledon turned the game around as a Jake Reeves cross found Browne who timed his run well to slot the ball home.
Shortly after the goal, Cleverley brought forwards Jamie Paterson and Bim Pepple into the game and the changes seemed to do the trick as the home side were much improved.
Both players were involved in the build-up which led to a Tolaj volley that forced a brilliant save out of visiting goalkeeper Nathan Bishop on 71 minutes. Despite further chances and the closing stages being all about Argyle, the home side couldn’t find an equaliser.
The defeat, which was Argyle’s seventh in the league after 12 games, leaves the Pilgrims in 20th position and hovering one place above the relegation zone. For AFC Wimbledon, the win extends their unbeaten run in the league to six points and moves them up to fourth in the table.
After the match, Cleverley said: “The overall feeling is disappointment and we’ve suffered that too much. After the first goal, I was expecting us to kick on a lot more but we didn’t, so we need to tap into the mentality of that.
“You look at the last two games against Wigan and Wimbledon and we’ve taken the lead at home and even if you are not at your best, you should find a way. We have to find a way, but we find ourselves losing the game.
“We need to think about how to move forward and what is the best way for us to win football matches and for me it starts with a clean sheet. How we have to approach every game is fundamentally think about what can we do to make sure we are hard to beat in this game because we’re falling short.
“We have to show a bit more personality, we have to reduce unforced errors, we have to try and gain confidence in key areas.”
Argyle’s next match sees them take on their old foes Exeter City at St James’ Park on Thursday, October 23 (8pm) in what is sure to be a lively Devon derby.
Comments
This article has no comments yet. Be the first to leave a comment.