AFC Wimbledon recorded their first league win of 2019 with a 1-0 victory over League One relegation rivals Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium last night.
The victory gave the Don’s vociferous one hundred sixty-three dedicated travelling supporters renewed hope in their fight for League One survival. On-loan Birmingham left-back Steve Seddon secured all three points with a neat finish after a goalmouth scramble on forty-eight minutes.
The win still leaves Wimbledon seven points from safety, but optimism will come from a performance that was more akin to their excellent FA Cup displays which saw them beat Premier League West Ham in the fourth round. Only the superb goalkeeping of Walsall’s Liam Roberts prevented the Dons from winning by more, the Saddlers keeper saving Anthoney Wordsworth’s early free kick from long range and denying Michael Folvi one-on-one. Joe Pigott also hit the post late on when free from twelve yards in a spirited, high energy display from Wimbledon.
Dons boss Wally Downes made six changes from the side that put in a lacklustre performance last time out at home to Burton and was understandably delighted with the victory. He told the Club’s website: “We created chances going forward and when we had to defend we did that solidly. The important thing was that we played to our shape and we played to instructions. We worked for each other, which was the critical thing. I’ve told the boys that we have to show promotion form now if we want to stay up this season.”
Before the game, Walsall manager Dean Keates labelled the fixture as the biggest of the season for the Saddlers. Both teams entered the clash struggling for confidence having lost five of their last six league games, but it was Keates side who failed to rise to the occasion, registering just two shots on target as they continued a poor run of form which has seen them win only one of their last twelve league matches.
Keates was well aware that if he is unable to arrest the slide, Walsall could well be playing League Two football next season. Talking to the Express and Star he said: “It’s not a good position and there’s no papering over cracks.”
“We are free-falling and we will be considered everybody’s favourites to go down even though we are eighth from bottom and there are seven teams below us.
“It’s still in our hands, but we need to find something, we need a building block to build on, something to stop the rot.”
“It hurts. It’s my hometown club, and I’ll get judged on results but all of us, we have to stand up and be counted.”
AFC Wimbledon take a break from relegation troubles on Saturday when they host Millwall in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Walsall meanwhile travel the short distance down the M6 for a clash with near Neighbours Coventry City.
Our View
The spirit of the crazy gang was in evidence last night, and Downes will be hoping it is the start of something special. It might be too late to keep them up, but he may well have one eye on building for an immediate return to League One with a promotion push next season.
Walsall are in trouble and Keates did not do anything to alleviate the supporter’s worries with his post-match comments that seemed bereft of ideas on what was going wrong. It is a shame but this fixture looks like it will be played in League Two next season.
