AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Sunderland Match Report – Neil Era Starts With A Draw
Alex Neil’s first game in charge starts with a 1-1 stalemate against a poor Wimbledon side.
The game was scrappy throughout with very few chances from either team.
The first real piece of action of the game came as the referee gave a penalty to The Dons for a handball against Callum Doyle which was extremely harsh.
Luke McCormick slotted the penalty to Anthony Patterson’s left right in front of the away supporters to make the score 1-0 just 20 minutes into the game.
15 minutes later, The Black Cats’ came up with a reply after Alex Pritchard did well on the edge of the box to win a free kick in a similar position to the one he scored at Cheltenham on Tuesday.
The Wimbledon ‘keeper invited Pritchard to go up and over the wall as he stood at the far right of his goal. Pritchard struck the ball brilliantly leaving Nikola Tzanev no chance.
The second half was very stop start with many free kicks given and 14 yellow cards dished out and 1 red card by the referee.
Anthony Patterson was called into action a few times in the second half, but nothing too major, Nikola Tzanev didn’t need to make a single save in the second 45.
Sunderland Striker, Ross Stewart did have a chance midway through the second half after being played through by Pritchard, but after a bad first touch he saw the ball taken off him by Paul Osew.
In the 90th minute, The dons’ goal scorer, Luke McCormick got his second yellow card after a strong challenge on Pritchard.
My Views
It was still not good enough by the players today but i will take into account that Alex Neil only came in yesterday so hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come.
In my opinion, the new signing Jay Matete seems absolutely brilliant, he’s strong, he’s good on the ball and he can pick out some good passes. I was very impressed with his performance today.
I think it is time to drop Dan Neil as he gave the ball away a lot this afternoon and didn’t seem to be playing with the same hunger and desire that he has done in the past.
Player Ratings
Anthony Patterson – 6
Didn’t have a lot to do throughout the game and he just guessed the wrong way for the penalty.
Trai Hume – 5
Did ok defensively and got forward well a few times. He did give the ball away a few times for me.
Bailey Wright – 6
Defence looked a little more organized with him being called into the starting line up. He did give away a lot of cheap free kicks however.
Callum Doyle – 6
Similar to Bailey Wright, he did ok for the majority of the game.
Dennis Cirkin – 4
Like Hume, he did ok defensively but I think he takes far too long to find a pass some times and most of his crossing was horrendous today.
Carl Winchester – 6
Looked tidy on the ball and made some half decent passes. He was taken off for Cory Evans in the 62nd minute.
Jay Matete – 7
In my opinion he was by far the best player on the pitch today. He won the ball back well and he put in a real battling performance. He looks like he has quick feet and can wriggle passed the opposition too.
Dan Neil – 5
Too many misplaced passes. He doesn’t look like the same player since the new year.
Jack Clarke – 6
Showed good pace and trickery at times, just didn’t have enough to break down The Dons’ defence.
Alex Pritchard – 6
He was mainly quiet throughout but scored another wonderful free kick to pull us level
Ross Stewart – 4
He didn’t get great service but when he did have a great opportunity he fluffed his lines.
Jermain Defoe – 5
It was nice to see him get 30 minutes under his belt. Never really had the opportunity to trouble The Dons’ ‘keeper.
Corry Evans – 4
I don’t really understand why he came on but he slowed the game down for us with too many backward passing.
Patrick Roberts – 5
He didn’t have much time to make a difference but he came on as Wimbledon were on the front foot. It seemed like every time he ran at their defence, he was tackled. However, I do like the way he tries to run at players, I think he needs a place in the starting lineup to show what he is all about.
