York City 1 AFC Wimbledon 1
James Shea was the saviour for AFC Wimbledon after they came from behind to set up a home replay against York City next Tuesday.
Wimbledon fell behind in this FA Cup first round tie to an early Jake Hyde goal after failing to properly clear Michael Coulson’s cross but the Dons’ immediately piled the pressure on and Adebayo Akinfenwa and Sean Rigg both came close to scoring.
The pressure quickly paid off when Andy Frampton emphatically equalised midway through the first half and their defence held firm despite losing the same player to a second half injury.
The home side had the better chances to win the game in the second half but Shea produced a brilliant double-save from Wes Fletcher in the last ten minutes to set up the replay.
Despite facing a team who had not registered a single home win so far this season, Wimbledon still found themselves behind after eight minutes when Hyde poked home a cross from Coulson.
The Dons responded well though and Akinfenwa was unlucky not to get on the end of Frankie Sutherland’s chip over the top, before Rigg chipped his shot just over the bar.
Neal Ardley dropped top scorer Matt Tubbs in favour of Ade Azeez, who was unlucky not to make it 2-1 when he got in behind the City lines only to be denied by a good Michael Inghram save.
The two sides each had good chances to take a lead in at half time but neither City’s Deon Burton nor Wimbledon’s Sutherland found the back of the net.
The teams were unchanged for the start of the second half and Akinfenwa again came agonisingly close to putting Wimbledon in front, but just could not get enough on a brilliant George Francombe cross.
Alan Bennett replaced the injured Frampton after an hour and Ardley made both of his remaining substitutes soon after.
In search of the winning goal, George Oakley and Tubbs came on for Azeez and Akinfenwa but it was the home side who forced the pressure late on.
Wimbledon defended well against City’s pressure and Shea’s superb double-save from substitute Fletcher was decisive in keeping the scores level to set up a replay at Kingsmeadow a week on Tuesday.
