Mansfield Town 1-1 AFC Wimbledon
Neal Ardley will review Lyle Taylor’s sending off before deciding whether to appeal it after AFC Wimbledon were held to a draw by Mansfield Town at the One Call Stadium.
Substitute Taylor was sent off in injury time for throwing an elbow at Mansfield’s Nicky Hunt in a game that simmered with tension throughout.
Tom Elliott had given the Dons an early lead before Chris Clements’ free-kick drew Mansfield level on 15 minutes, with the end of the first half marred by a number of free-kicks given by referee Ross Joyce.
Ardley told Dons Player: “We went 1-0 up and I thought we looked really good, but in the last 15 minutes of the first half we got caught up with so many decisions against us by the man in the middle.
“The frustrations of our players boiled over and we stopped playing then.
“I had to calm the boys down at half-time as there were a lot of frustrated people.
“But I thought that we were the better team and we looked like scoring more than them.
“I never felt that we were in any trouble at the back. I thought our back four were commanding.”
The Dons started brightly, with striker Elliott was able to finish cleverly past Mansfield goalkeeper Brian Jensen from an incisive George Francomb ball.
Having been restored to the starting line-up following last week’s defeat to Plymouth, along with Francomb, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Jon Meades, Elliott looked bright in the first half as his pace caused real trouble for the Mansfield defence.
But Clements’ excellent free-kick pegged the Dons back and they were then unable to regain the initiative.
Elliott did have the chance to put the Dons ahead again but headed wide from close range.
He was replaced by Taylor on 70 minutes, only for the sub to be see red in stoppage time.
The Dons go to Yeovil Town next Saturday.
Feature image of Neal Ardley courtesy of AFC Wimbledon TV, via Youtube, with thanks
