Northampton Town 2 AFC Wimbledon 0
Neil Ardley apologised to the travelling AFC Wimbledon supporters in the wake of his side’s defeat to Northampton Town at Sixfields.
The hosts took the lead through Kaid Mohamed after half an hour before substitute Alex Nicholls wrapped up the victory in second-half stoppage time.
Wimbledon have now gone four consecutive games without a victory and the Dons boss admitted his side were second best to the Cobblers throughout the entire 90 minutes.
Ardley said: “It’s really important for me to apologise to the travelling fans because that wasn’t acceptable.
“We were second to everything, out-fought, out-run, we had no quality and we didn’t face adversity very well.
“We didn’t pass the ball well and didn’t look like we’d played together.”
Northampton started brightly and took the lead in the 32nd minute as Mohamed converted Lawson D’Ath’s cross.
Matt Tubbs had the chance to level things up moments later but fired over from a good position.
The second-half was a more subdued affair and it took until deep into injury time before the game saw another goal as Nicholls bundled the ball home to seal the win.
Ardley was particularly disappointed in his side’s first-half performance, and pointed to Northampton’s stronger mentality as to why they came out on top.
“There were so many things wrong at half-time to correct,” he added.
“It’s really hard to watch your team put in a performance that’s bereft of everything you’ve done during the week.
“You try and change it at half-time, and the players need to, but we weren’t good enough all around the pitch.”
The ex-Wimbledon player was also keen to shoulder some of the blame for his side’s poor display.
Ardley said: “I’m the manager. The buck stops with me and I’m not going to pass it on.”
