Shrewsbury Town picked up another point on the road after Dan Udoh’s equaliser cancelled out Wimbledon’s early opener.
Salop started the better of the two teams however it was Wimbledon who took the lead in the 13th minute. Ayoub Assal collected the ball in the middle of the park and drove towards Town’s penalty box before passing it out wide to Ethan Chislett. The midfielder clipped the ball from the by-line back to the edge of the six-yard box where Assal met it with a well-placed header into the bottom corner.
Wimbledon were in the ascendancy after their goal and were holding the majority of possession inside Town’s half. Their next good chances game within a few seconds of each other, just after the half-hour mark, but both were blocked by fantastic challenges by Matthew Pennington, who put his body on the line to prevent the shots from reaching Marko Marosi.
The game opened up a little more in the second half. Nat Ogbeta fired an effort over the bar and Jack Rudoni sent a low shot just wide of Marosi’s left-hand post inside the opening ten minutes of the half.
An even start to the second period turned Town’s way in the 58th minute and they bagged their equaliser through Udoh. After great interplay between Josh Vela and Elliott Bennett – who played the ball between themselves down the right flank and took multiple players out of the game – Bennett passed the ball to the feet of Ryan Bowman. Surrounded by Don defenders, Udoh took the ball off his strike partner’s foot and squeezed a deft shot into the bottom corner.
Following Shrewsbury’s equaliser, the game developed into a scrappy affair with niggly challenges and unnecessary fouls breaking up play and preventing either side from getting much going. This remained the case for the rest of the game and, for the second time in a week, Salop had to settle for a point on the road.
Teams:
AFC Wimbledon: Nik Tzanev, Paul Osew, Ben Heneghan (C), Will Nightingale, George Marsh, Ayoub Assal (Tomas Kalinauskas, 81), Ethan Chislett (Antony Hartigan, 61), Jack Rudoni, Terry Ablade (Aaron Cosgrave, 73), Luke McCormick, Lee Brown
Subs Not Used: Zaki Oualah, Dan Csoka, Cheye Alexander, Dapo Mebude
Salop: Marko Marosi (GK), Tyrese Fornah (Saikou Janneh, 75), Ethan Ebanks-Landell (C), Matthew Pennington, Josh Vela, Dan Udoh, Ryan Bowman, Nathanael Ogbeta (Aaron Pierre, 88), David Davies, Elliott Bennett, George Nurse
Subs Not Used: Harry Burgoyne (GK), Sam Cosgrove, Rekeil Pyke, Tom Bloxham, Josh Daniels
Bookings:
Jack Rudoni picked up a yellow card on the half-hour mark for blocking a Salop free-kick. Ayoub Assal was booked at the end of the first half for a dive and Ben Heneghan was booked for a late slide tackle on Saikou Janneh with 77 minutes played.
Elliott Bennett was booked for a foul on Tomas Kalinauskas late on.
Officials:
Referee: Carl Boyeson
Assistant Referees: Matthew Lee and Andy Bennett
Fourth Official: Paul Kelly
Attendance: 7824 (838 away)
