Town 2 AFC Wimbledon 1
Town: Jayson Leutwiler, Joe Riley (Dom Smith, 32), Mat Sadler (c), Shaun Whalley, Junior Brown, Ryan Yates, Gary Deegan, Freddie Ladapo (Stefan Payne, 74), Aristote Nsiala, Alex Rodman, Tyler Roberts (Adam El-Abd, 90).
Subs: Mark Halstead, Louis Dodds, Bryn Morris, AJ Leitch-Smith.
Wimbledon: James Shea, Paul Robinson (c), George Francomb, Jake Reeves, Tom Elliot, Tom Soares, Andy Barcham, David Fitzpatrick (Dominic Poleon, 67), Sean Kelly, Darius Charles, Lyle Taylor (Tyrone Barnett, 80).
Subs: Joe McDonnell, Dannie Bulman, Will Nightingale, Egli Kaja, Seth Owens.
Ref: Kevin Johnson
Assistants: Paul Graham and Matthew Bristow
Fourth Official: Paul Hobday
Attendance: 5751 (318 from Wimbledon)
There were three changes to the side that lost away to Peterborough, with Ryan Yates, Freddie Ladapo and Tyler Roberts coming in for starts as Town looked to return to winning ways at Greenhous Meadow.
Town made the brightest start and had the first real chance of the game when Ladapo turned inside the box and found Alex Rodman, whose shot was poked home by Yates but from an offside position.
Darius Charles looked to respond for the visitors but his looped header from a free kick went well over Jayson Leutwiler’s goal.
Town nearly took the lead when Roberts latched onto a back pass to find Ladapo, but the striker was put off just enough by the Wimbledon defence to stop him getting a shot away.
Yates then hit an ambitious volley way over moments later, after good work from Shaun Whalley down the right.
Town continued to look the more likely scorers, and went close through Rodman and Ladapo, but their efforts were straight at James Shea in the Wimbledon goal.
The visitors ended up having the best chance of the half, when Tom Soares hit a thunderous effort from outside the box, but the woodwork came to Town’s rescue.
Striker Tom Elliot made sure that both sides had the ball in the net, but again was disallowed as as the half ended goalless.
Half time: 0-0
Wimbledon were improved at the start of the second half, and nearly broke the deadlock when Elliot headed from close range but was somehow kept out, before Dom Smith cleared the danger.
Deegan was the next to have a go from range, but his shot was fired just wide.
Both sides continued to try their luck from distance, and Soares again forced a strong hand from Leutwiler.
It looked as though it would take something special to break the deadlock, and it came on 64 minutes when Roberts marked his return to the Town starting line up by firing home a free kick from 25 yards out.
It didn’t take long for Wimbledon to draw level though, Andy Barcham’s shot from 18 yards out trickled into the bottom left corner, agonisingly past Leutwiler.
Leutwiler was tested again from Lyle Talyor’s stinging effort, before Stefan Payne was brought on by Paul Hurst as both sides went in search of a winner.
The game looked to be ending level, but right on 90 minutes Aristote Nsiala rose highest at the far post to head home the winner.
Leutwiler punched bravely in injury time and found himself clattered to the floor, but Town held on to take all three points.
Full-time: 2-1